SHORT  TALKS  ON 

RETAIL  SELLING 


Hlitti  11 


jjj  I 


HALL 


SHORT  TALKS  ON 
RETAIL  SELLING 


BY 

S.    ROLAND   HALL 

Advertising   Manager,   Alpha   Portland    Cement   Co.;   Formerly 

Principal   International   Schools   of   Advertising 

and  Salesmanship,  and  Publisher  of 

"Selling   Sense" 


FUNK  &  WAGNALLS   COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 
1915 


COPYRIGHT,  1915,  BY 

FUNK    &    WAGNALLS    COMPANY 

[Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America] 

Published,  November,   1915 

All  rights  reserved 


TO 

RETAIL    SALESMEN    AND    SALESWOMEN 

THAT  GREAT  ARMY  OF  WORKERS,  THROUGH  WHOM 
MOST  OF  THE  MATERIAL  WANTS  OF  MANKIND  MUST 
BE  SUPPLIED,  WHOSE  DAILY  CONTACT  WITH  THE 
WORLD  AFFORDS  A  RICH  AND  VARIED  STUDY  OF 
HUMAN  NATURE,  WHO  HAVE  IT  IN  THEIR  POWER  TO 
CONTRIBUTE  SO  MUCH  OF  JOY  AND  COMFORT  TO 

OTHER    MEN    AND    WOMEN — 
THIS    BOOK    IS    APPRECIATIVELY    DEDICATED. 

S.    R.    H. 


iii 


392181 


FOREWORD 

SOME  years  ago,  while  engaged  in  voca- 
tional educational  work,  I  became  much  in- 
terested in  the  sales-schools  that  various 
enterprising  merchants  were  conducting 
to  improve  the  service  of  their  stores.  I 
procured  and  examined  the  "store  papers" 
that  still  more  merchants  were  publishing 
for  the  purpose  of  developing  ambition 
and  energy,  of  cultivating  a  cheerful, 
loyal,  courteous  working-spirit,  and  of  im- 
parting definite  instruction  in  the  fine  art 
of  retail  selling. 

Some  ideas  on  this  big  subject  began  to 
clamor,  as  it  were,  for  expression,  and  so 
I  began  the  publication  of  a  little  pocket- 
sized  periodical,  which  I  called  SELLING 
SENSE,  and  which  I  offered  in  quantities 
to  merchants,  the  idea  being  that  the  em- 
ployer would  put  a  copy  in  the  hands  of 
each  of  his  salespeople. 

The  plan  was  well  received.     Soon  a 


vi  FOREWORD 

good-sized  list  of  stores  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific  were  using  SELLING  SENSE 
as  part  of  their  educational  plan.  I  never 
enjoyed  writing  anything  more  than  I  did 
this  SELLING  SENSE  matter,  and  only  the 
pressure  of  other  work  caused  me  to  turn 
the  publication  over  to  others. 

The  popularity  of  these  retail  selling 
talks  led  me  to  believe  that  the  best  of  the 
material  written  for  SELLING  SENSE  would 
be  well  received  if  published  in  book  form. 
Hence  this  volume,  which  also  contains 
some  new  articles. 

Most  people  learn  what  they  know  of 
salesmanship  by  actual  experience.  By 
the  experience  plan,  we  do  not  study 
things  in  an  orderly  fashion,  but  learn  a 
little  here  and  a  little  there.  This  book  is 
laid  out  on  the  "experience  plan,"  so  to 
speak.  No  attempt  is  made  to  treat  the 
subject  of  retail  salesmanship  in  a  progres- 
sive manner.  A  text-book  on  salesman- 
ship written  in  such  a  way  is  more  than 
likely  to  be  pedantic,  theoretical,  and  unin- 
teresting. I  have  the  notion  that  most  peo- 


FOREWORD  vii 

pie  enjoy  a  book  on  selling  methods  more 
because  of  its  being  made  up  of  short  ar- 
ticles that  can  be  read  easily  at  odd  mo- 
ments; and  it  is  believed  that  the  points 
of  good  salesmanship  discust  in  this  free 
and  easy  manner  will  not  prove  to  be  less 
helpful  because  of  their  manner  of  pre- 
sentation. 

S.  ROLAND  HALL. 

College  Hill,  Boston,  Pa. 


TITLES  OF  TALKS 


A  CRACKERJACK  SALESMAN i 

THE  GREAT  BUSINESS  OF  RETAIL  SELLING  2 

EXPERIENCE  is  A  GREAT  TEACHER  ...  6 

Two  WAYS  OF  LOOKING  AT  IT  ....  7 

THE  STEPS  OF  A  SALE 8 

How  TO  START  A  SALE 10 

DON'T  SAY 17,  51,  138,  &  167 

IF  WE  COULD  SEE  OURSELVES  ....  19 

IT'S  A  LITTLE  THING,. BUT ....  20 

"I  COULD  Do  BETTER  WORK"  ....  22 

TALKS  BY  THE  OBSERVER  .     23,  43,  60,  72,  87, 

99,  no,  120,  128,  141,  150,  &  161 

BEST  WAY  TO  RECEIVE  MONEY  ....  30 

THE  DICKENS  SPIRIT 33 

GEORGE,  CHARLIE,  AND  JOE 34 

How  Two  MANAGERS  MANAGED     ...  35 

GIVE  A  FULL  YARD  BUT  No  MORE  ...  39 

MISTAKES  AND  COURAGE 40 

THE  RULES  OF  THE  STORE 40 

PERSONALITY 42 

HANDLING  THE  SHOPPER'S  FRIEND  ...  50 


x  TITLES    OF    TALKS 

FACE 

MORE  PLAIN  DON'TS 52 

GETTING  A  RUNNING  START 54 

MAKING  SALES  EASY 56 

THE  EXTRA-POLITE  SALESMAN  ....     59 

IF  You  WERE  Boss 66 

OVERCOMING  DIFFIDENCE 67 

KNOW  WHAT'S  ADVERTISED 69 

THE  INDIRECT  COMPLIMENT 70 

WORDS  COMMONLY  MISUSED  ....  77 
THAT  VOICE  OF  YOURS  .  .  .  ..  .  .  78 

THE  CUSTOMER'S  ATTITUDE 80 

JUST  BE  THOROUGH  .  .  .  .  ;.  .  .  82 
THE  WHOLESALE  HABIT  ......  83 

YOUR  EYES .     84 

WISHING  AND  WORKING 92 

A  PAIR  OF  SILK  STOCKINGS 93 

THE  VALUE  OF  VISION 97 

THE  APPLE  MAN 105 

PASSING  THE  SUGAR 106 

THE  ART  OF  FORGETTING 107 

SHOW  THE  GOODS 115 

HOLDING  THE  NEW  CUSTOMER  .  .  .  .116 
LEARNING  THE  CUSTOMER'S  NEEDS  .  .  .117 
THE  RIGHT  WAY  AND  THE  WRONG  WAY  .  118 
ABOVE  THE  CROWD 124 


TITLES    OF    TALKS  xi 


PAGE 


CAN  You  USE  SUGGESTION 125 

LET  THE  CUSTOMER  TALK  SOME  .     .     .     .133 

THE  REWARD  OF  SERVICE 135 

SHOW  THE  BETTER  GOODS 136 

APPEALING  TO  THE  HEART 137 

CONCENTRATION 137 

THAT  OTHER  JOB  ........   140 

ARE  You  BUILDING? .  146 

IN  LOVE  WITH  His  JOB 147 

BE  PLEASANT  BUT  NOT  THICK  ....   148 
THE  HARD-TO-HANDLE  CUSTOMER  .     .     .   155 

CLOSING  A  SALE 156 

PERSONAL  CAPITAL 159 

BULGE  OVER 160 

STICK 165 

DREAMS  AND  DREAMERS 166 

A  LESSON  FROM  THE  WAR 166 

A  CASE  OF  WAIT 167 

S-E-R-V-I-C-E 1 68 

A  PROGRESSIVE  CREED  ,  168 


"A  CRACKER] ACK  SALESMAN" 

CAN  it  be  said  of  you?  You  couldnt  win 
a  better  compliment. 

For  selling  is  the  big  job  nowadays.  The 
great  manufacturers  admit  that  it  is  more  im- 
portant to  know  how  to  sell  goods  than  to 
know  how  to  make  them. 

Selling  isnt  mere  "separating  people  from 
their  money."  It  is  studying  merchandise  and 
studying  people,  and  helping  people  to  appre- 
ciate the  merits  of  the  merchandise. 

Selling  is  a  fine  art  if  you  make  the  most  of 
it.  It  sharpens  the  wits — makes  bigger  men 
and  women. 

Out  of  every  ten  people  trying  to  sell 
goods,  one  is  a  real  salesman.  The  others  are 
just  "order-takers." 

The  opportunities  for  the  real  salesman  are 
practically  unlimited.  He  need  never  want. 
The  latch-string  hangs  out  everywhere  for 
him;  and  HIM  here  means  HER  as  well. 

Be  the  ONE  in  ten! 


2         SHORT  TALKS 

THE  GREAT  BUSINESS  OF  RETAIL 
SELLING 

ONE  does  not  have  to  be  a  prophet  to 
see  that  in  the  years  ahead  of  us  retail 
merchandising  will  receive  more  close  at- 
tention and  study  than  it  has  received  in 
the  past.  Retailing  has  been  a  great  busi- 
ness almost  since  the  world  began.  As 
Mr.  George  H.  Perry,  formerly  of  the 
Wanamaker  and  the  Gimbel  stores,  has 
said,  if  age  entitles  a  profession  or  a  busi- 
ness to  honor,  surely  the  retail  merchant's 
calling  should  be  an  honored  one,  for  it  is 
as  old  as  law  and  order  and  older  than 
medicine. 

Retailing,  in  the  generations  past,  was 
largely  a  haggling  business — a  battle  of 
wits  between  merchant  and  customer.  If 
either  could  get  the  better  of  the  other,  he 
felt  that  it  was  proper  to  do  so.  Little 
thought  was  given  to  the  science  and  the 
art  of  selling. 

But  merchandising,  like  other  great 
forms  of  human  effort,  has  been  evolving 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  3 

and  improving.  To-day,  the  higher  forms 
of  selling  are  regarded  generally  as  forms 
of  service.  The  salesman,  first  of  all,  is 
the  manufacturer's  most  valuable  ally; 
without  him,  factories  close  and  freight- 
trains  are  side-tracked.  Then,  there  is 
the  customer's  side  of  the  matter :  he  who 
enables  men  and  women  to  purchase,  with 
their  earnings,  the  goods  that  make  life 
most  pleasurable  and  comfortable,  who 
makes  the  exchange  of  money  for  com- 
modities the  most  pleasant  of  business 
transactions,  is  a  great  salesman,  a  real 
merchant — one  who  is  sure  to  win  mate- 
rial and  other  rewards. 

No  longer  can  merchandising  be  prop- 
erly regarded  as  mere  "separating  people 
from  their  money"  or  a  battle  of  wits.  In 
most  lines  of  business,  the  merchant  or 
salesman  has  done  a  poor  day's  work  for 
the  store  when  a  customer  has  been  served 
so  poorly  that  he  or  she  goes  away  resolved 
never  to  purchase  at  that  place  again. 

It  is  the  business  of  the  true  merchant 
and  his  representatives,  the  salespeople,  to 


4  SHORT    TALKS 

study  goods  and  to  study  people,  their 
needs,  wants,  and  tastes;  to  buy  goods 
judiciously  and  to  sell  them  skilfully,  so 
that  those  who  use  the  merchandise  may 
get  its  best  service. 

The  retail  store  occupies  a  great  place. 
Daily  it  is  concerned  with  the  most  inti- 
mate phases  of  our  lives — our  food,  our 
clothing,  our  homes,  our  work.  Many  of 
our  great  men  have  devoted  their  lives  and 
their  best  thought  to  the  retail  business; 
but  merchandising  as  a  life  work  has  not 
received  from  young  men  and  young  wo- 
men generally  the  serious  thought  that 
it  is  entitled  to.  The  usual  conception 
seems  to  be  that,  because  the  public  has 
certain  well-defined  wants,  anybody  can 
stand  behind  the  counter  or  on  the  sales- 
floor  and  meet  those  wants.  The  store 
has  been  looked  upon  as  a  place  for  em- 
ployment only  in  case  something  better 
could  not  be  had.  The  truth  is  that  there 
are  comparatively  few  good  salesmen  and 
saleswomen,  and  that  in  no  business  is 
there  more  pressing  need  for  capable  and 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  5 

conscientious  workers.  It  is  certainly  true 
that  even  a  poor  salesman  can  sell  some 
goods.  Some  goods  almost  sell  them- 
selves. But  to  sell  the  most  goods  to  the 
most  people,  and  to  sell  them  in  such  a  way 
as  to  give  the  buyers  the  most  pleasure  and 
the  most  satisfaction,  as  well  as  to  create 
the  most  good-will  for  the  store,  is  a  task 
requiring  as  much  thought  and  pains- 
taking effort  as  is  required  in  any  calling. 

Some  are  born  with  considerable  apti- 
tude for  selling,  just  as  others  are  born 
with  considerable  aptitude  for  mechanics. 
Most  people  in  the  business  of  selling  have 
only  ordinary  aptitude.  To  climb  to  the 
top  means  that  the  business  of  selling  must 
be  studied  earnestly  and  continually.  No 
matter  how  much  you  know,  there  is  al- 
ways something  more  to  learn  about 
goods,  about  people,  and  about  ways  and 
means  of  appealing  to  their  wants. 

If  you  are  in  the  retail  business,  or  are 
planning  to  enter  it,  you  should  not  be 
satisfied  with  being  anything  less  than  a 
salesman  of  100  per  cent,  efficiency. 


6  SHORT    TALKS 

Modern  methods  of  traveling,  communi- 
cating, and  delivering  have  brought  peo- 
ple closer  together — have  made  compe- 
tition keener.  The  mediocre  merchant 
and  the  ordinary  salesman  are  feeling 
this.  They  will  feel  it  more  in  the  years 
to  come.  The  day  of  better  retail  mer- 
chandising has  dawned.  There  is  a  fu- 
ture in  it  for  those  who  are  prepared  to 
give  a  good  account  of  themselves. 

EXPERIENCE  IS  A  GREAT  TEACHER 

But  there  are  two  kinds  of  experience 
— your  experience  and  the  accumulated 
experience  of  other  people. 

Don't  try  to  learn  everything  through 
your  own  experience;  some  of  the  lessons 
will  be  too  bitter,  too  costly,  and  too  slowly 
learned. 

Take  every  lesson  you  can  from  the  ex- 
perience of  other  people.  Profit  by  their 
mistakes  and  successes.  By  so  doing,  you 
will  be  able  to  avoid  many  mistakes. 

The  fact  that  a  copy  of  SHORT  TALKS  ON 
RETAIL  SELLING  has  come  into  your  pos- 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  7 

session  does  not  necessarily  mean  that  you 
do  not  know  much  of  what  it  teaches. 
Good  for  you  if  it  merely  echoes  what  you 
already  know,  for  that  means  that  you 
are  an  exceptional  salesman! 

SHORT  TALKS  ON  RETAIL  SELLING  is 
merely  a  handful  of  lessons  drawn  from 
the  experiences  of  retail  salesmen  every- 
where. It  will  not  hurt  any  one,  and  it 
should  help  thousands,  for  it  is  a  note- 
worthy fact  that  altho  the  business  world 
needs  more  salesmen  than  it  needs  book- 
keepers and  stenographers,  and  several 
other  classes  of  clerical  workers  combined, 
so  far  there  has  been  almost  no  effort  on 
the  part  of  schools  to  teach  the  great,  in- 
teresting, and  tremendously  important 
business  of  selling.  Selling,  like  every 
other  thing  worth  while,  has  to  be  learned. 

TWO    WAYS    OF   LOOKING   AT   IT 

The  salesman  was  asking  the  traveling 
man  confidentially  if  he  knew  of  any  good 
jobs  open.  "Nothing  here  for  me,"  was 


8  SHORT    TALKS 

the  answer  when  the  traveling  man  asked 
what  was  wrong  with  the  present  job.  A 
little  later,  the  proprietor  of  that  store 
asked  the  traveling  man  if  he  could  put 
him  next  to  a  man  who  could  make  the 
most  of  a  good  opportunity  there  in  the 
store — said  the  young  man  at  present  in 
the  job  wasn't  alive  to  the  possibilities ! 

Who  was  right? 

It  reminds  us  of  the  advertising  man, 
who,  on  resigning,  was  asked  by  the  boss 
to  advertise  for  a  successor.  The  ad. 
man's  own  advertisement  about  the  pos- 
sibilities of  the  job  was  so  convincing  that 
it  changed  his  decision  about  leaving. 

THE  STEPS  OF  A  SALE 

Analyzing  a  sale  from  the  scientific 
point  of  view,  we  find  that  there  are  just 
four  steps,  which  are  well  represented  by 
the  following  four  words : 

Attention. 

Interest. 

Belief. 

Action. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  9 

Every  exchange  transaction  does  not 
necessarily  include  all  of  these  steps.  The 
customer  may  know  the  merchandise  so 
thoroughly  that  he  believes  in  it  fully  even 
before  he  enters  the  store.  But  in  such 
cases  the  salesman  can  hardly  be  said  to 
make  a  sale;  it  is  rather  a  case  of  filling 
an  order.  Speaking  from  a  salesmanship 
point  of  view,  the  word  "sale"  refers  to  a 
transaction  where  the  salesman  is  called 
on  to  present  the  merits  of  the  goods. 

The  attention  must  be  favorable.  Mark 
that.  It  is  easy  to  get  a  certain  kind  of 
attention,  but  unless  the  attention  is  favor- 
able, it  counts  for  little  or  nothing.  Ad- 
vertisements, window-displays,  and  coun- 
ter-displays aid  greatly  in  securing  favor- 
able attention. 

With  favorable  attention  secured,  it  is 
the  salesman's  next  task  to  develop  that  at- 
tention into  interest,  and  to  build  up  the 
customer's  belief  in  the  merit  or  desirabil- 
ity of  the  article.  This  may  mean  deter- 
mining and  removing  various  objections 
or  doubts  that  are  in  the  customer's  mind, 


10  SHORT    TALKS 

and  by  that  means  securing  his  confidence. 
If  good  work  is  done  in  drawing  favor- 
able attention,  developing  interest  and  in- 
ducing belief,  there  will  be  little  effort 
needed  to  secure  action  from  the  customer 
and  bring  the  sales  transaction  to  a  close. 

HOW  TO  START  A  SALE 

Many  stores  object  to  having  a  cus- 
tomer asked  to  buy,  or  to  having  a  sales- 
person make  a  definite  query  as  to  what 
is  wanted.  Some  stores  have  a  strict  rule 
that  the  customer  must  always  speak  first, 
the  idea  being  that  the  customer  should 
feel  free  to  look  around  without  any  spe- 
cial intention  to  purchase,  if  he  or  she 
chooses.  Many  sales  begin  in  this  way 
that  would  never  have  been  made  if  the 
customer  had  been  repelled  from  the 
counter  by  an  invitation  to  buy  before  hav- 
ing a  definite  intention  to  do  so.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  many  sales  have  been  lost 
because  those  behind  the  counter  stood  in- 
differently by  instead  of  showing  interest 
and  the  desire  to  be  helpful. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  11 

There  is  a  golden  mean  between  urg- 
ing a  customer  to  buy  goods  and  evincing 
the  interest  and  ability  that  will  encourage 
the  least  intention  of  buying.  The  atten- 
tive salesman  can  usually  tell,  without  dif- 
ficulty, at  what  point  in  a  customer's  ex- 
amination of  goods  on  a  counter  it  is  well 
to  ask  if  he  can  show  the  customer  a  par- 
ticular size,  or  show  a  further  assortment 
of  such  goods. 

Very  often  the  salesman,  without  even 
asking  a  question,  can  put  down  other 
goods  for  inspection  with  some  quiet  re- 
mark, as,  "Here  is  another  very  pretty 
shade  of  green/'  Such  attention  can  be 
given  without  assuming  to  watch  the  cus- 
tomer so  closely  as  to  embarrass  the  in- 
spection of  the  goods. 

If  a  woman  enters  a  store  hesitatingly 
and  apparently  with  no  clear  idea  of  what 
she  wants,  the  good  salesman  has  his  best 
opportunity  for  skilful  salesmanship.  He 
will  evince  a  willingness  to  show  goods 
unceasingly,  but  will  try  to  find  out  by 
suggestive  leads  and  tactful  questions  the 


12  SHORT    TALKS 

object  for  which  the  article  to  be  bought 
is  intended  and  the  general  taste  of  the 
customer.  Then,  when  he  has  decided 
what  in  his  stock  will  best  fill  these  re- 
quirements, he  will  show  his  confidence. 
Some  such  remark  as,  "I  have  exactly  the 
thing  you  are  looking  for,"  is  often  a 
pleasing  introduction  to  the  bringing  out 
of  an  article  that  the  salesman  believes 
will  please  the  customer. 

The  natures  that  act  with  timidity  and 
uncertainty  respond  very  gratefully  to 
those  who  decide  for  them  with  dispatch, 
if  they  can  be  made  to  feel  that  their  in- 
terests are  considered. 

Any  one  of  a  number  of  things  may  be 
appropriately  said  to  the  customer  who 
indicates  interest  and  a  readiness  to  re- 
ceive a  suggestion  from  the  salesman.  The 
following — published  originally  in  Straw- 
bridge  &  Clothier's  Store  Chat — is  offered 
as  a  good  example:  "May  I  show  you 
your  size  in  these  gloves  ?  They  wear  ex- 
cellently, and  are  very  low-priced  at  three 
dollars;  the  regular  price  is  four  dollars. 


ON   RETAIL    SELLING  13 

An  important  thing  about  these  white 
gloves  is  they  will  clean  very  satisfactor- 
ily. Do  you  require  long  or  short  fingers  ? 
Do  you  like  the  broad  white  stitching  on 
the  backs  ?" 

The  unskilled,  unthinking  salesperson 
who  ought  to  be  in  some  other  work  may 
either  stand  still,  without  indicating  the 
slightest  interest  in  the  possible  customer, 
or  may  blurt  out  some  tactless  question, 
such  as  "Do  you  like  those,  ma'am?"  or 
"Can  I  show  you  anything,  Mrs.?"  Or 
she  may  show  by  her  manner  that  she  does 
not  believe  the  woman  before  her  has  suf- 
ficient means  to  afford  a  pair  of  twenty- 
button  white  gloves,  altho  they  are  selling 
at  three  dollars  and  are  worth  a  dollar 
more.  By  her  manner  she  may  indicate 
that  she  has  no  time  for  "lookers,"  but  is 
behind  the  counter  to  sell.  Such  a  sales- 
woman can  do  incalculable  harm  to  her 
store. 

"Don't  ask  questions;  show  goods,"  is 
a  bit  of  advice  that  one  merchant  urges  on 
all  his  salesmen.  "If  the  customer  wants 


14  SHORT    TALKS 

to  look  at  silks,  don't  ask  her  what  kind 
and  about  what  price  she  would  like  to 
see.  Begin  showing  goods,  and  in  that 
way  get  a  hint  as  to  what  she  wants.  If  she 
says  she  is  partial  to  blue,  don't  ask  what 
shade  of  blue,  but  show  her  various  kinds 
of  blues.  Then  you  will  very  quickly  be 
guided  to  what  she  most  likes."  The  fact 
is  that  a  judicious  showing  of  goods,  with 
a  little  carefully  exprest  comment,  will 
often  result  in  a  sale  of  higher-priced 
goods  than  that  the  customer  came  in  to 
buy.  A  dress-goods  salesman,  having  put 
before  a  customer  goods  at  eighty  cents  a 
yard  that  seemed  to  please  her,  said,  "I 
want  to  see  now  if  you  don't  like  this  even 
better."  Then  he  put  before  her  a  su- 
perior piece  of  goods  at  a  dollar  a  yard, 
saying,  "This  is  twenty  cents  a  yard  more, 
but,  as  you  see,  it  is  worth  the  difference." 
He  paused  a  while  before  measuring  the 
eighty-cent  goods,  and  the  customer  final- 
ly decided  in  favor  of  the  dollar  goods. 
Altho  it  is  not  well  always  to  entice  cus- 
tomers to  buy  the  higher-priced  goods,  for 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  15 

such  a  general  policy  would  be  harmful, 
this  instance  illustrates  what  can  be  done 
by  quietly  showing  customers  goods  that, 
before  seeing,  they  feel  they  do  not  want. 

It  is  not  good  salesmanship  to  ask 
bluntly,  "About  what  price  do  you  want 
to  pay?"  or  "Do  you  want  a  high-priced 
or  a  low-priced  suit  ?"  But  this  error  is  a 
very  common  one.  It  is  a  reflection  on 
the  customer  to  insinuate  that  she  may  not 
be  able  to  buy  the  high-priced  goods,  and, 
anyhow,  it  is  impertinent  to  ask  what  the 
customer  is  willing  to  pay  before  the  goods 
have  been  shown.  A  person  does  not  or- 
dinarily go  to  a  store  for  the  purpose  of 
spending  a  certain  sum  of  money,  but 
rather  to  look  and  then  determine  what  to 
buy. 

However,  one  can  usually  determine 
quite  easily  what  class  of  goods  a  cus- 
tomer wants,  and  that  with  a  compliment 
rather  than  a  reflection  on  the  ability  to 
buy.  If  the  salesman  observes  carefully 
the  kind  of  clothes,  jewelry,  and  decora- 
tions and  millinery  a  woman  wears,  he  can 


16  SHORT    TALKS 

get  a  very  clear  idea  of  the  type  of  article 
that  is  most  likely  to  suit  her,  and  can 
save  time  in  effecting  the  sale.  It  is  com- 
paratively easy  to  tell  by  the  customer's 
costume  and  general  manner  whether  she 
likes  things  that  are  gay  or  quiet,  flashy 
or  elegant,  conservative  or  in  the  extreme 
of  fashion.  However,,  in  this  sizing  up 
the  salesman  should  be  careful  not  to  stare 
critically  at  the  customer,  who,  if  clad 
rather  poorly,  or  possibly  not  in  the  latest 
fashion,  and  sensitive  on  that  point,  would 
at  once  be  repelled  by  such  action. 

Having  judged  from  externals  as  close- 
ly as  he  can,  the  salesman  may  make  a 
start  by  showing  somewhat  higher-priced 
goods  than  the  customer  seems  likely  to 
want,  saying,  "Here  is  a  very  serviceable 
and  dressy  suit  at  $40."  If  the  price  is 
higher  than  she  is  willing  to  pay,  the  cus- 
tomer will  say  so,  and  the  salesman  has 
his  clue.  But,  generally  speaking,  it  is 
better  to  err  by  showing  the  higher-priced 
goods  than  to  reflect  on  the  customer  by 
showing  low-priced  goods,  as  if  he  or  she 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  17 

could  not  pay  for  better.  Most  people  feel 
complimented  by  having  the  salesman 
show  the  better  things  to  them,  and  every 
experienced  salesman  knows  that  it  is  a 
frequent  occurrence  to  have  people  come 
in  for  low-priced  goods  and  go  away 
pleased  at  having  bought  something 
better. 

DON'T  SAY 

Don't  say  "We  ain't  got  none,"  or  "We 
haven't  got  none."  The  grammatical 
wording  is  "We  haven't  any  of  that,"  or 
"We  have  none  of  that,"  and  it  is  a  good 
plan  to  include,  "I  am  sorry."  But  don't 
be  too  quick  to  say  you  haven't  things. 
You  may  really  have  them,  or  something 
else  that  would  suit  the  customer. 

Don't  say  "I  seen  it."  Say  "I  saw  it." 
It  is  correct  to  say  "I  have  seen  it." 

Don't  say  "Do  you  want  cheaper 
goods?"  The  word  "cheap"  suggests  low 
quality.  Refer  to  such  goods  as  "lower- 
priced  goods." 

Don't  say  "A  certain  party  was  in  here." 


18  SHORT    TALKS 

It  is  correct  to  speak  of  "an  evening 
party/'  "a  theater  party,"  "a  party  of 
friends";  but  say  "the  person  I  referred 
to,"  not  "the  party  I  referred  to." 

Avoid  the  common  use  of  "lady"  or 
"ladies"  in  commercial  matter,  particularly 
as  an  adjective;  use  "woman,"  "wife," 
"housekeeper,"  when  these  words  can  be 
used  appropriately.  Say  "women's 
shoes,"  "housekeepers'  sales,"  etc.  "Sales- 
woman" is  preferred  to  "saleslady." 

The  word  "gentleman"  is  likewise  to  be 
used  with  care  in  commerce.  In  America, 
"men's  overcoats"  is  ordinarily  preferable 
to  "gentlemen's  overcoats,"  but  the  posses- 
sive forms  of  both  "gentlemen"  and 
"ladies"  may  be  used  with  discrimination 
in  referring  to  exclusive  goods.  In  dis- 
cussing social  matters,  it  is  all  right,  of 
course,  to  say  "Fifty  ladies  and  gentlemen 
were  present." 

It  is  exceedingly  bad  form  to  abbreviate 
"gentleman"  to  "gent."  Never  use  such 
expressions  as  "gent's  furnishing  store," 
"lady  and  gent,"  "lady  friend,"  "gentle- 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  19 

man  friend/'    Say  "madam/'  not  "lady," 
in  addressing  a  woman. 

IF  WE  COULD  SEE  OURSELVES 

She  was  an  old  woman  and  she  was  very 
odd-looking — no  doubt  about  that. 

But  she  was  a  visitor — a  guest  of  the 
store — and  as  such  was  entitled  to  the  re- 
spectful and  courteous  consideration  of  all. 
No  matter  how  odd-looking  she  might 
have  been,  it  was  the  part  of  real  ladies 
and  gentlemen  and  real  salesmen  and 
saleswomen,  to  give  no  sign  that  her  ap- 
pearance was  extraordinary. 

What  happened  ? 

There  were  stares  and  smiles — even 
snickers.  The  attention  not  only  of  sales- 
people but  of  other  customers  was  drawn 
to  the  quaint  old  figure.  The  store  that 
minute  fell  in  the  estimation  of  the  well- 
bred  people  who  were  present,  and  they 
probably  spoke  of  the  incident  to  others. 
The  rudeness  showed  that  the  store  lacked 
the  restraint  and  respect  that  is  character- 
istic of  every  well-ordered  business. 


20  SHORT    TALKS 

It  was  too  bad.  The  old  lady  was  some- 
body's mother.  How  do  you  like  to  have 
your  mother  treated? 

Resolve  this:  that  no  matter  what 
others  may  do,  you  will  have  too  much 
pride  and  self-respect  to  stare  or  smile  in 
a  way  that  may  make  others  uncomfort- 
able. 

No,  the  old  lady  did  not  complain.  She 
did  nothing.  She  probably  had  too  much 
dignity  to  let  people  know  that  she  was  in 
the  least  concerned  as  to  what  others 
thought  of  her.  Maybe  she  said  to  her- 
self: "I  am  glad  that  my  daughters  and 
granddaughters  were  too  well-trained  to 
stare  or  snicker  as  these  young  persons 
do/' 

IT'S  A  LITTLE  THING,  BUT 

it  makes  a  lot  of  difference. 

Did  you  ever  go  into  a  bank,  a  hotel,  a 
store,  or  some  other  place,  and  have  the 
person  who  attended  to  your  wants  greet 
you  with  "Good  morning,  Mr.  Blank/' 
or  "Miss  Blank" — that  is,  calling  you  by 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  21 

your  name  instead  of  saying  just  "Good 
morning"  ? 

Made  you  feel  good,  didn't  it,  to  realize 
that  you  were  known  by  name;  to  feel  that 
you  were  somebody,  instead  of  being  mere- 
ly one  of  the  crowd. 

Now,  it  is  just  that  way  with  custom- 
ers. You  could  do  no  little  thing — and, 
you  know,  the  big  things  of  life  are  made 
up  of  the  little  things — that  would  have 
a  better  effect  than  this  business  of  call- 
ing people  by  their  names. 

And  you  don't  have  to  be  blest  with 
anything  wonderful  in  the  way  of  mem- 
ory to  do  it.  It  is  just  a  matter  of  pay- 
ing close  attention  to  names,  and  making 
it  a  point  to  remember  them. 

Another  thing :  it  gives  your  answers  to 
your  superiors  a  little  fine  finish  if  you 
say,  "Yes,  Mr.  Brown,"  instead  of  "Yes, 
sir"  or  merely  "Yes." 

People  may  not  tell  you  that  they  notice 
these  refinements  of  conversation  and 
service,  but  be  sure  that  such  things  stamp 
you  as  a  person  of  superior  training. 


SHORT    TALKS 


"/  could  do  better  work,  but  it  wouldn't 
be  noticed.    So  whafs  the  use?" 

^>  ^y 

MANY  have  said  just  that,  and  many 
more  have  thought  it. 

But  it  is  dead  wrong.  In  most  cases,  sooner 
or  later,  merit — like  water — rises  to  its  level. 

You  may  not  be  told.  You  may  not  know 
it.  But  SOMEBODY  knows  what  your  real 
value  is,  and  that  somebody  may  be  able  to 
give  you  a  helping  hand  when  you  least  ex- 
pect it. 

Anyhow,  you  owe  it  to  yourself  to  do  at 
all  times  the  best  work  of  which  you  are  ca- 
pable. 

That  is  the  only  way  in  which  you  can 
grow  in  ability.  It  is  the  only  way  to  get 
happiness  out  of  your  work* 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  23 

TALKS   BY  THE   OBSERVER 

This  happened  last  summer,  but  it  is 
one  of  those  stories  that  is  as  good  in 
cold  weather  as  it  is  in  warm  weather  or 
middling  weather. 

The  Observer  was  going  through  Bal- 
timore on  a  trip  farther  South  when  he 
remembered  that  there  was  a  tiny  hole  in 
the  big  toe  of  his  Can't-Wear-'Em-Out 
socks.  It  is  embarrassing,  you  know, 
when  you  are  away  from  home  to  dis- 
cover that  the  hosiery  manufacturer  has 
betrayed  his  trust  and  allowed  your  toes 
to  poke  through.  So,  picking  out  a  haber- 
dasher that  had  an  attractively  arranged 
window  (take  note,  Mr.  Window-Dres- 
ser, if  you  please),  the  Observer  walked 
in  and  asked  for  two  pair  of  hose. 

The  "man  on  the  job"  was  the  pro- 
prietor himself,  and  he  was  one  of  those 
genial  men — not  familiar  or  "clever,"  but 
one  whose  manner  showed  that  he  took 
great  pleasure  in  serving  well.  They  say 
there  are  many  of  that  sort  in  Baltimore. 

"Is  the  size  right?"  asked  the  Obser- 


24  SHORT    TALKS 

ver  when  the  merchant  had  handed  out 
just  the  kind  of  socks  wanted. 

"Yes/'  said  the  other  man,  "I  looked  at 
your  foot  before  I  came  around  the  coun- 
ter. Few  men  know  the  size  they  wear, 
and  so  I  usually  take  a  look  at  the  foot. 
You  will  find  those  just  right." 

"That's  a  good  idea,"  said  the  Obser- 
ver, remembering  that  once  upon  a  time 
he  had  bought  some  socks  that  cramped 
his  toes.  "And,  by  the  way,  I  almost  for- 
got that  I  need  another  union  suit." 

"You  will  find  this  a  nice  garment," 
said  the  good  salesman,  as  he  spread  out 
one  of  the  "just  right"  kind.  "And  now 
don't  you  need  a  pair  of  garters  ?" 

"By  George,  I  do,"  said  the  Observer, 
and  then  he  said  to  this  creative  salesman : 
"Woiuld  you  mind  telling  me  why  you 
suggested  garters — just  the  other  thing  I 
need?  Why  didn't  you  say — what  the 
salesman  would  usually  say — 'Don't  you 
need  something  else?'  or  rattle  off  a  list  of 
things  so  fast  I  couldn't  stop  to  consider 
anything  you  said?" 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  25 

Said  the  haberdasher  with  a  smile: 
"You  bought  hosiery,  and  then  you  called 
for  another  union  suit,  remarking  that 
you  had  almost  forgotten  that  you  needed 
it,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  next  thing 
you  would  be  likely  to  need  would  be  a 
pair  of  garters." 

What  a  lesson  he  laid  down.  Most 
salesmen  ask  if  there  isn't  "something 
else,"  and  of  course  the  natural  impulse  is 
to  say  "No."  Other  salesmen  rattle  off  a 
list,  as  a  matter  of  habit.  Besides,  the 
reciting  of  a  list  is  a  suggestion  that  the 
salesman  is  anxious  to  load  up  the  cus- 
tomer with  a  string  of  purchases,  and 
such  suggestions  are  resisted  instinc- 
tively. 

The  right  way  is  the  way  the  genial 
Baltimore  haberdasher  did  it — to  be  keen 
and  to  study  the  needs  or  the  probable 
needs  of  the  customer  before  you,  and  to 
make  thoughtful,  definite  suggestions. 
The  customer  appreciates  such  service. 
He  considers  what  you  say,  and  he  buys 
that  other  thing  that  he  otherwise  might 


26  SHORT    TALKS 

not  think  of  until  he  got  a  block  down  the 
street  in  front  of  your  competitor's  store. 
Good  for  you,  Mr.  Baltimore  Sales- 
man! May  your  genial,  thoughtful  tribe 
increase,  for  it  is  a  pleasure  to  buy  from 
you. 


"Indeed  we  have!  —  a  fine  assortment." 

This  is  what  the  enthusiastic  little 
salesman  said  when  the  customer  asked  if 
the  store  carried  a  certain  line  of  goods. 

There  are  just  six  words  in  the  sen- 
tence, but  they  stand  for  sixty.  You  can 
see  a  lot  radiating  from  that  little  mouth- 
ful of  words  —  confidence  in  the  store, 
pleasure  in  the  work,  pride  in  the  stock 
of  goods  carried,  readiness  to  serve  the 
customer  well. 

We  need  more  of  this  enthusiasm.  It 
is  too  common  to  see  the  salesman  who 
stands  around  indifferently  and  hands  out 
things  with  "yes"  and  "no."  There  is  a 
chill  going  out  from  such  a  salesman,  a 
chill  that  often  makes  the  customer  say 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  27 

that  she  believes  she  won't  buy  to-day  any- 
how. It  is  too  rare  to  see  the  enthusiastic 
salesman,  he  whose  very  first  words  hold 
the  customer  and  awaken  interest. 

Enthusiasm  is  contagious.  It  makes 
sales  grow,  makes  buying  a  pleasure  for 
the  customer,  makes  life  worth  living  for 
the  salesman,  whether  he  lives  in  Detroit 
or  Darbytown. 


It  was  in  little  old  New  York,  where 
they  say  that  both  public  service  and  pri- 
vate service  are  the  worst  ever.  The  Ob- 
server had  nothing  smaller  than  a  $5  bill 
in  his  pocket.  Of  course,  this  happened 
when  he  first  struck  New  York,  and  before 
he  had  a  chance  to  buy  a  meal  there  !  He 
was  somewhat  fearful  of  handing  out  this 
"five-spot"  to  the  street-car  conductor, 
after  having  to  make  a  beautiful  aeroplane 
swoop  in  order  to  get  aboard  of  one  of 
those  Broadway  cars  that  no  one  has  ever 
seen  make  a  stop.  He  was  imagining  what 
a  New  York  conductor  would  say  if  asked 


28  SHORT    TALKS 

to  change  a  bill  of  that  size.  Remember- 
ing, however,  that  a  soft  answer  turneth 
away  wrath,  he  tendered  the  bill  with  one 
of  his  best  smiles  and  the  explanation  that 
he  was  very  sorry  to  have  nothing  smaller. 

What  did  the  conductor  do? 

"That's  all  right,  sir/'  he  replied  —  and 
'don't  forget  he  added  the  "sir";  "I  am 
sorry  I  have  to  give  you  small  change." 

Doesn't  it  prove  that,  as  a  rule,  you  get 
pretty  much  what  you  look  for  ?  Be  good- 
humored  and  courteous,  and  you  will  find 
it  will  bring  the  same  kind  of  treatment 
from  others  most  of  the  time.  Even  if  it 
sometimes  doesn't,  your  armor  of  good 
nature  will  protect  you  from  insult  or 
rebuff  from  those  whose  natures  have  be- 
come too  soured  to  respond  to  courtesy. 


"What  would  you  do?"  asked  a  mer- 
chant of  a  speaker  before  a  business  club, 
"if  you  could  not  get  your  salespeople  to 
keep  themselves  well  informed  as  to  what 
the  store  is  advertising?" 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  29 

"For  one  thing,"  answered  the  speaker, 
"I  would  see  to  it  that  every  department 
of  the  store  got  advance  notice  of  what 
was  to  be  advertised  every  day." 

"I  do  that/'  said  the  merchant,  "but 
still  it  is  common  for  saleswomen  to  tell 
customers  that  they  do  not  know  that 
such-and-such  a  thing  was  advertised." 

"The  first  time  a  saleswoman  was  guilty 
of  this  fault,"  said  the  speaker,  "I  would 
go  to  her  and  kindly  but  firmly  explain 
what  she  was  in  the  store  for.  The  sec- 
ond time  it  happened  I  would  go  to  her 
and  let  her  know  that  she  was  in  the  wrong 
place  and  would  be  better  off  cooking  for 
somebody  or  doing  some  other  work  for 
which  she  was  better  fitted." 

Does  this  hit  you? 

Wonder  what  the  customer  thinks 
when  she  finds  salespeople  that  don't 
know  what  the  store  is  advertising  in 
their  department. 

X  MC 

He  is  a  big,  good-natured  negro  who 
seems  to  find  happiness  in  his  job  of  wait- 


30  SHORT    TALKS 

ing  well  on  the  people  who  come  into  his 
dining-room.  How  I  do  like  to  see  people 
take  a  pride  in  their  jobs — whether  they 
are  meat-cutters  or  house-builders. 

I  ordered  ribs  of  beef  that  day.  As  he 
brought  the  beef  in  and  put  the  covered 
dish  down  in  front  of  my  plate,  he  said, 
"This  is  a  nice  dish  to-day,  sir/'  He  said 
just  that  and  no  more,  and  then  he  took 
off  the  cover,  and  there  was  a  savory  look- 
ing portion  of  ribs  of  beef  before  me.  It 
did  look  good,  and  it  was  good.  Of 
course  what  he  did  was  only  a  little  thing, 
but  what  George,  the  good  waiter,  did  was 
enough  to  make  a  simple  meal  something 
out  of  the  ordinary.  We  will  do  well  to 
remember  how  "George  did  it,"  for  it's 
the  little  things  that  make  the  difference 
between  the  ordinary  salesman  and  the 
good  one. 

BEST  WAY  TO  RECEIVE  MONEY 

It  is  very  embarrassing  to  have  a  dis- 
pute about  the  amount  of  money  that  the 
customer  handed  to  you.  Such  unpleas- 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  31 

ant  situations  can  be  avoided  by  always 
calling  out  the  amount  of  the  bill  or  coin 
that  the  customer  hands  to  you. 

Thus,  if  the  bill  is  a  $2  bill,  say:  "Two 
dollars"  when  you  take  the  money.  Then 
if  the  customer  should  happen  to  think  the 
bill  was  a  $5  bill,  she  will  see  her  mistake 
before  the  money  goes  out  of  her  sight. 

Do  you  mind  asking  for  money?  You 
can  suggest  the  handing  over  of  the 
money  skilfully  if  you  will  merely  say, 
when  the  purchase  is  completed,  "That 
will  amount  to  $2.75."  Such  a  sugges- 
tion will  bring  the  money  without  any 
direct  request  being  made. 

In  handing  back  change,  it  is  best  to 
add  from  the  amount  of  the  purchase. 
Thus,  if  the  purchase  were  eighty-five 
cents,  and  the  bill  presented  were  a  $5  bill, 
the  change  should  be  handed  back  and 
counted  in  this  way:  "Eighty-five  cents, 
ninety  (dropping  the  five-cent  piece  in  the 
customer's  hand),  one  dollar  (giving  her 
the  dime),  two  dollars,  three,  four,  five 
(giving  her  the  four  dollars)." 


32  SHORT    TALKS 

This  method  saves  the  customer  from 
adding  the  amount  of  the  purchase  to  the 
amount  of  the  change,  in  order  to  be  sure 
that  the  correct  change  has  been  given. 


Stores  nowadays  have  the  printed 
"Thank  You!"  on  various  things;  but, 
somehow,  the  printed  thanks  seem  like 
"canned  courtesy."  The  spoken  "Thank 
you !"  used  advisedly,  is  the  real  toil  that 
makes  human  machinery  run  smoothly. 


Don't  give  any  one  a  piece  of  your 
mind.    You  may  need  all  of  it. 


Don't  nurse  your  grievances.  That  is 
a  sure  sign  of  a  small  mind.  If  you  real- 
ly have  a  grievance,  out  with  it,  clear  the 
atmosphere  and  go  on.  But  maybe,  after 
all,  you  have  no  real  grievance.  Just  have 
a  little  talk  with  yourself  over  in  the  cor- 
ner and  see  if  you  haven't  been  playing 
the  baby  instead  of  being  a  broad-gaged 
person. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  33 


THE  DICKENS  SPIRIT 


my  life,"  wrote  Charles  Dickens,  '7 
have  tried  with  all  my  heart  to  do  well." 

This  simple,  earnest  explanation  gives  us  one 
of  the  secrets  of  success  of  one  of  the  world's 
greatest  writers. 

Trying  with  all  the  heart  to  do  the  work 
Well  will  be  found  to  be  a  secret  of  even;  mans 
success. 

For  trying  with  all  the  heart  means  thorough- 
ness, and  thoroughness  is  so  rare  a  quality  that 
it  brings  the  highest  market  price. 

Incidentally,  the  people  who  strive  with  all 
their  hearts  get  more  happiness  out  of  their 
work  —  as  well  as  more  money. 


34         SHORT  TALKS 

GEORGE,  CHARLIE  AND  JOE 

The  other  day  a  department  manager 
of  my  acquaintance  resigned.  He  had 
been  restless  for  a  year. 

But  only  one  young  man  of  the  two 
dozen  or  more  around  that  section  of  the 
store  had  been  able  to  see  how  things  were 
going  and  to  get  ready  for  the  bigger  job. 

The  day  the  announcement  was  made 
there  was  a  grand  rush  to  see  "the  old 
man."  George,  Charlie,  and  all  the  other 
boys  wanted  a  show. 

Joe  said :  "Mr. ,  for  a  year  I  have 

been  quietly  fitting  myself  for  the  job.  I 
can  prove  to  you  that  I  can  take  right  hold 
and  make  good." 

What  did  "the  old  man"  do?  Just  what 
every  other  employer  will  do — he  gave  the 
job  to  the  young  man  who  had  fitted  him- 
self for  it. 

George  and  Charlie  feel  sore  because 
the  long-headed  man  in  the  office  didn't 
serve  notice  on  them  a  year  ahead  that  the 
department  manager  was  likely  to  leave, 
so  they  could  have  prepared. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  35 

They  are  long  on  hindsight  but  short 
on  foresight. 

Are  you  a  George,  a  Charlie,  or  a  Joe? 

HOW  TWO  MANAGERS  MANAGED 

There  was  trouble  in  the  air  from  the 
first  morning  that  the  new  manager  took 
charge.  Miss  Burnett  had  been  with  the 
store  five  years,  and  she  had  hoped,  when 
the  former  head  of  the  section  resigned, 
that  the  firm  would  give  her  the  position 
of  first  responsibility.  She  believed  she 
had  managing  ability,  and  she  was  keenly 
disappointed  when  it  was  announced 
that  a  new  man  had  been  engaged.  She 
did  not  gossip  her  disappointment  around, 
but,  as  is  usually  the  case,  looks  spoke  as 
loudly  as  words  could  have  done.  Bald- 
win, the  new  man,  could  feel  the  resent- 
ment when  he  was  introduced  to  Miss 
Burnett  along  with  the  other  members  of 
his  department.  He  wondered  what  had 
happened  to  set  this  keen-looking  young 
woman  against  him. 

Miss   Burnett  was  too  good  a   sales- 


36  SHORT    TALKS 

woman  and  too  loyal  an  employee  to  allow 
her  personal  grievance  to  lower  the  qual- 
ity of  her  work  so  far  as  customers  were 
concerned;  but  the  silent  opposition  con- 
tinued. Baldwin's  patient  efforts  to  be 
pleasant  met  little  encouragement,  and  he 
gave  it  up  as  a  bad  job,  when  he  observed 
that  the  girls  smiled  covertly  at  the  futil- 
ity of  his  efforts  to  be  agreeable  to  his 
chief  assistant. 

,One  day — a  particularly  trying  day — 
the  storm  broke.  Baldwin  openly  repri- 
manded Miss  Burnett  for  not  informing 
him  of  a  condition  that  she  knew  existed. 
Miss  Burnett  took  the  reproof  in  haughty 
silence  and  waited.  After  closing  hour 
she  reopened  the  subject. 

"I  prefer  to  leave/'  said  she,  "rather 
than  to  remain  here  under  present  condi- 
tions, but  before  I  go  I  am  going  to  have 
the  satisfaction  of  telling  you  that  I  be- 
lieve I  could  manage  this  section  better 
than  you  do." 

She  plunged  on  recklessly,  rapidly  re- 
lieving her  pent-up  feelings  in  the  manner 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  37 

of  a  displeased  customer,  but,  feeling  sur- 
prized, on  the  whole,  to  find  so  little  satis- 
faction in  speaking  her  mind  to  this  un- 
ruffled man.  At  last  she  stopt,  embar- 
rassed and  humiliated  in  the  realization 
that  she  had  so  far  lost  control  of  herself. 

"I  do  not  doubt,  Miss  Burnett,"  he  re- 
plied, quietly,  "that  you  could  do  just  as 
well  as  I  have  done  in  my  short  stay 
here,  or  even  better.  I  have  felt  the  need 
of  help,  felt  the  need  of  your  help,  and  I 
do  not  know  why  you  have  been  unwilling 
to  give  it  to  the  fullest  extent,  but  you  have 
not  done  so.  Something  has  been  wrong. 
Maybe  we  misunderstand  each  other,  al- 
tho  really  I  have  tried  to  make  our  rela- 
tions pleasant. 

"When  I  came  here  I  wasn't  sure  it  was 
the  right  job  for  me;  however,  I  have  two 
motherless  little  girls  to  support,  and  as  it 
was  an  opportunity  anyhow,  I  felt  I  ought 
to  take  hold  and  do  the  best  I  could.  It 
may  interest  you  to  learn  that  already  I 
have  concluded  to  give  up  the  place,  and 
that  I  have  made  up  my  mind  to  tell  the 


38  SHORT    TALKS 

firm  that  I  believe  you  are  fully  competent 
to  take  charge.  Our  personal  differences 
will  not  alter  my  decision  to  recommend 
you  for  the  position ;  so  let's  be  friends  for 
the  short  time  I  will  be  around.  I  have 
always  liked  you/7 

He  held  out  his  hand,  but  Miss  Burnett 
did  not  take  it.  She  retreated  a  step,  with 
wide-open  eyes  that  suddenly  filled  with 
tears.  The  well-bred,  generous  woman 
rose  magnificently  above  all  petty  spite. 

"What  have  I  done?"  she  exclaimed, 
passionately,  and  then,  putting  out  both 
hands,  she  pleaded,  "O,  forgive  me— I 
didn't  know.  I  was  just  disappointed  be- 
cause they  didn't  give  me  the  place  at  first, 
and  I  have  been  small  and  mean.  I'd  give 
so  much  if  I  could  undo  it  all  now.  I  can 
help  you  and  will  help  you,  if  you  will  let 
me  start  all  over  again.  I  know  I  haven't 
been  an  example  for  the  other  girls,  and  I 
am  ashamed  of  myself,  but  I'll  do  my  best 
now.  Can  you  forgive  me  ?" 

He  forgave  her.    And  he  stayed. 

Last  month  he  told  his  housekeeper  that 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  39 

he  would  not  need  her  services  any  longer, 
because  he  had  found  some  one  who  could 
manage  girls  so  well  that  he  had  decided 
to  let  her  manage  his  own. 

GIVE  A  FULL  YARD  BUT  NO  MORE 

In  measuring  off  goods  priced  from  one 
to  two  dollars  a  yard,  careless  holding  may 
easily  put  an  extra  half  inch  in  a  number 
of  the  yards  or  five  or  six  inches  in  the  en- 
tire purchase.  This  means  a  loss  to  the 
store  of  from  sixteen  to  thirty  cents.  A 
hundred  such  transactions  run  the  loss  up 
to  twenty  or  thirty  dollars.  The  customer 
does  not  know  that  the  store  gave  this 
over-measurement;  it  is  a  dead  loss. 

Give  full  measure,  but  make  it  exact. 
Let  the  nail  of  the  thumb — not  the  thumb 
as  a  whole — mark  the  exact  end  of  the 
yard.  See  that  there  is  nothing  under  the 
goods  to  increase  the  length  of  the  yard. 

It  is  watching  these  little  things  that 
constitutes  profitable  merchandising. 

Prove  it  to  the  boss  in  the  sales  total. 


40  SHORT    TALKS 

MISTAKES  AND  COURAGE 

Do  you  lose  courage  sometimes  ?  Every- 
body does.  Saint  Paul  did,  for  we  read 
that  on  a  certain  occasion  he  "thanked 
God  and  took  courage."  Losing  courage 
isn't  fatal,  because  we  are  wonderfully 
blest  with  the  power  to  recover  such 
things. 

One  successful  man  says  that  he  never 
makes  a  mistake  but  that  he  says  to  him- 
self, "Now,  what  can  I  learn  from  that?" 

Take  the  lesson  from  the  misstep  or  the 
misfortune.  Think  how  much  you  have  to 
be  thankful  for.  Take  a  tighter  hold  on 
courage  and  move  on. 

THE  RULES  OF  THE  STORE 

Make  up  your  mind  that  you  will  obey 
the  rules,  letter  and  spirit.  Sometimes  you 
may  not  fully  understand  them — may 
think  they  are  unnecessary  or  unjust.  But 
there  may  have  been  some  reason  for  mak- 
ing them  that  you  know  nothing  of.  Rules 
that  might  be  unnecessary  where  only  a 
few  people  are  employed  are  often  abso- 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  41 

lutely  necessary  where  scores  or  hundreds 
are  employed.  Until  such  time  as  the  rules 
have  shown  themselves  to  be  wrong,  it  is 
your  business  to  obey.  That's  only  loyal- 
ty. If  you  sneer,  and  evade  what  your 
employers  ask  you  to  do,  others  may  be 
tempted  to  follow  your  example;  and  you 
will  be  spreading  dissension. 

"To  obey  is  better  than  to  sacrifice," 
says  the  Great  Book. 


If  the  heads  of  the  business  would  let 
you  see  the  checks  for  advertising  bills 
sent  to  the  newspapers  every  month,  you 
would  get  an  idea  how  much  it  costs  to 
bring  people  into  the  store,  and  you  would 
realize  just  how  necessary  it  is  to  sell  them 
when  they  do  come  in.  ^ 

That  irritable  woman  was  a  hard  cus- 
tomer to  serve  agreeably,  but  you  gain 
something  invaluable  every  time  you 
handle  a  case  of  that  kind  patiently  and 
successfully. 


42  SHORT    TALKS 


PERSONALITY 

<^-^> 

TT'S  a  wonderful  thing — this  thing  that  we 
•*  call  personality — which  includes  your  ap- 
pearance, pour  manners,  pour  voice,  pour  con- 
versation, everything  about  pou  that  impresses 
pou  on  those  with  whom  pou  come  in  contact 
as  an  individual,  different  from  every  other  per- 
son in  the  world. 

You  do  not  have  to  be  beautiful  to  have  a 
charming  personality.  You  do  not  even  need 
to  be  wonderfully  clever,  but  you  do  have  to 
be  careful,  courteous,  clean,  well-informed, 
ready  always  to  be  at  your  best  and  to  give 
people  your  best.  Personality  has  paved  the 
way  to  fortunes.  Are  you  developing  yours 
to  its  fullest? 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  43 

TALKS  BY  THE  OBSERVER 

The  Observer  has  bought  a  Victrola, 
and  he  is  glad  he  bought,  for  the  entertain- 
ment that  it  brings  to  him  at  the  close  of 
the  day  puts  music  into  his  soul  and  read- 
justs things. 

But  if  the  Observer  hadn't  already  made 
up  his  mind  to  buy,  the  chances  are  that 
the  indifferent  salesmanship  would  have 
lost  the  talking-machine  merchant  a  good 
sale.  This  is  just  the  way  it  happened. 

The  Observer  entered  the  store.  Sales- 
woman stepped  forward  attentively — 
which  was  the  proper  thing  to  do — and 
asked:  "Did  you  want  something?" — 
which  was  a  silly  thing  to  do. 

Why,  oh  why,  do  so  many  salesmen — 
and  "salesmen"  means  saleswomen,  too,  if 
you  please — persist  in  asking  that  stupid 
question  of  people  who  come  into  their 
stores?  The  Observer  doesn't  blame  that 
sarcastic  old  man  who,  once  upon  a  time, 
said  in  answer  to  that  question,  "No,  of 
course,  I  don't  want  anything;  I  just  came 
in  to  count  the  gas-jets." 


44  SHORT    TALKS 

But  the  Observer,  tho  a  critic  of  sell- 
ing methods,  is  a  good-humored  critic.  He 
smiled  at  this  nice-looking  young  woman 
and  said,  "Why,  yes,  I  really  believe  I  do 
want  something.  I  have  been  thinking 
that  it  is  about  time  for  me  to  buy  a  Vic- 
trola." 

Now  what  do  you  suppose  came  next? 
That  second  question  which  is  rarely  ad- 
visable to  spring  on  the  customer  at  once : 
"About  what  price  do  you  want  to  pay?" 
Here  was  a  room  with  instruments  at  five 
or  six  prices  all  around  within  ten  feet  of 
the  salesman.  The  thing  to  do  was,  of 
course,  to  lead  the  customer  up  to  the  ma- 
chines, demonstrate  their  different  fea- 
tures and  casually  mention  the  prices.  In 
this  way,  a  clue  would  have  been  secured 
as  to  what  price  could  or  would  be  paid. 
How  is  the  prospective  customer,  who  may 
be  entirely  uninformed  as  to  the  values  or 
prices  of  the  instruments  to  know  what 
price  he  wants  to  pay  ? 

But  the  Observer  smiled  and  said: 
"There  is  no  special  sum  that  I  had  in 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  45 

mind  that  I  wanted  to  get  rid  of.  You 
might  let  me  look  at  the  different  instru- 
ments and  tell  me  about  them  and  then  I 
will  decide  which  one  I  want." 

The  young  woman  saw  something  then, 
and  she  got  down  to  business;  but  she 
wasn't  long  in  blundering  again.  Maybe 
she  doesn't  care  very  much — is  just  hold- 
ing her  job  until  she  is  married.  But  I 
wonder  if  she  ever  stopt  to  think  that 
the  keen  men — the  men  likely  to  provide 
the  girls  of  their  choice  with  nice  homes — 
very  often  figure  out  that  the  thorough, 
conscientious  saleswoman  is  more  likely  to 
be  the  thorough  housekeeper  and  the  help- 
ful mate  than  the  indifferent  girl. 

"Is  the  lower  case  mahogany  or  birch?" 
queried  the  Observer. 

"I — I  don't  know  about  that,"  was  the 
answer,  "but  I  guess  it  isn't  mahogany. 
I  think  it  is  probably  birch." 

But  now  to  be  perfectly  fair  and  accur- 
ate, she  did  one  proper  thing.  "Wouldn't 
you  like  to  hear  the  tone  of  this  instru- 
ment?" The  Observer  said  that  he  would, 


46  SHORT    TALKS 

and  then  he  thought  to  himself:  "Here  is 
where  the  fine  work  begins.  She  is  going 
to  ask  me  what  piece  of  music  I  would  like 
to  hear." 

But  that  didn't  come.  Schumann- 
Heink's  "Holy  Night"  was  put  on,  and  a 
good  demonstration  record  it  was;  but 
there  was  something  else  that  the  Ob- 
server preferred  hearing. 

The  saleswoman's  advice  as  to  the  com- 
parative tone  value  of  the  different  in- 
struments was  directly  contrary  to  the  ad- 
vice given  to  one  of  the  Observer's  ac- 
quaintances at  the  same  store.  In  fact, 
when  the  manager  came  in  and  took  part 
in  the  sale,  his  advice  differed  from  what 
the  saleswoman  had  said;  and  as  the  re- 
sult, the  Observer  trusted  neither  but 
made  them  take  up  time  in  demonstrating 
several  instruments  several  times. 

Yes,  the  Observer  bought,  but  largely 
because  he  had  decided  to  buy  a  Victrola 
even  before  he  entered  the  store ;  and  noth- 
ing short  of  extremely  rank  work  would 
have  kept  him  from  buying. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  47 

How  much  better  it  is  for  both  cus- 
tomer and  salesman  if  the  customer  feels 
when  he  leaves  the  store;  "My,  but  these 
people  are  on  their  jobs.  It's  a  pleasure  to 
do  business  with  such  thorough  salesmen." 

Don't  think  that  because  you  are  not 
selling  Victrolas  there  is  not  a  lesson  here 
for  you.  It  makes  little  difference  what 
you  are  selling  —  whether  lawn-mowers, 
hosiery  or  salt  mackerel  :  don't  expect  the 
customer  to  flash  a  ten-dollar  bill  and  say, 
"I  want  to  spend  this."  Show  your  goods, 
show  your  goods,  show  your  goods  ;  bring 
out  their  good  points  as  skilfully  as  you 
know  how,  and  the  first  thing  you  know 
the  sale  is  made  without  any  forcing  at  all. 


There's  a  big  difference  in  the  way  sales- 
men give  out  information. 

Some  give  it  with  a  superior  air  as  if 
the  poor  customer  were  an  ignorant  boob 
that  the  salesman  ought  to  "show  up." 
Others  give  information  as  it  should  be 
given,  in  a  pleasant,  unassuming  way. 


48  SHORT    TALKS 

Not  long  ago  the  Observer  wanted 
something  in  the  way  of  a  pair  of  pincers 
or  pliers.  He  didn't  know  exactly  what 
to  call  the  thing  he  wanted,  but  he  knew 
what  it  looked  like,  and  so  he  dropt  into 
a  hardware  store  that  has  a  group  of  as 
well-informed,  obliging  salesmen  as  were 
probably  ever  gathered  in  one  place  of  its 
size.  Using  his  fingers  as  models,  he  de- 
scribed to  the  salesman  the  tool  he  wanted. 

"Yes,  Mr.  Observer,"  said  this  sales- 
man— he  knew  the  name,  just  as  he  knows 
the  name  of  everybody  else  that  comes  into 
the  store  regularly,  "that's  a  plier;  that's 
what  we  call  the  "gas-plier."  And  he 
said  it  in  such  a  nice  way  that  the  Obser- 
ver stood  there  a  moment,  chatting;  his 
eye  fell  on  a  display  of  hatchets  and  it 
reminded  him  that  he  wanted  one. 

This  on-to-his-job  salesman  put  a  piece 
of  cardboard  over  the  sharp  blade  of  the 
hatchet  before  wrapping  it.  A  little  thing ! 
No,  it  wasn't.  We  call  such  things  little 
things  but  they  are  big  things,  for  they 
turn  shopping  from  disagreeable  jobs  into 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  49 

errands  of  real  pleasure,  and  any  one  who 
does  that  is  an  artist  —  a  genius. 


"It  is  a  good  thing/'  says  a  skilful  cloth- 
ing salesman,  "to  let  the  past  alone.  I 
make  it  a  rule  never  to  ask  a  customer  of 
mine  how  the  last  suit  he  bought  from  us 
pleased  him.  If  he  liked  it,  what's  the  use 
of  saying  anything  about  it,  and  if  he 
didn't  like  it,  the  raking  up  of  the  transac- 
tion may  prove  to  be  a  snag  in  the  next 
sale.  Of  course  if  I  knew  that  the  cus- 
tomer was  actually  dissatisfied,  I'd  try  to 
find  out  what  the  trouble  was  and  to  fix 
it  up,  but  I  never  voluntarily  give  a  cus- 
tomer the  chance  to  say  That  was  the 
poorest  suit  you  ever  sold  me.'  In  other 
words,  I  don't  search  for  trouble." 

"About  what  price  did  you  want  to 
pay?"  asked  the  salesman.  Replied  the 
customer:  "I  can  probably  buy  anything 
in  your  store  that  strikes  my  fancy." 
Yes,  the  salesman  saw  the  point. 


50  SHORT    TALKS 

HANDLING  THE  SHOPPER'S  FRIEND 

A  salesman  says: 

"I  am  bothered  often  by  the  friend  of 
the  shopper — she  who  comes  along  with- 
out any  intention  of  buying  but  just  to 
find  fault  and  advise.  Yesterday,  for  ex- 
ample, a  woman  came  in  who  had  very 
little  to  say  as  to  her  likes  and  dislikes,  but 
her  companion  would  comment  freely. 
She  would  say,  'Oh,  you  don't  like  that/ 
'I  wouldn't  buy  that/  etc.  What  ought  I 
to  do  in  a  case  of  this  sort  ?  Be  rude  ?" 

No,  you  should  not  be  rude.  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  say  exactly  what  you  should 
do,  because  the  way  that  would  be  best  one 
day  with  two  guests  of  the  store  might 
not  be  the  best  way  with  two  other  guests. 
Good  salesmanship  always  means  a  care- 
ful consideration  of  the  individual  or  in- 
dividuals before  you,  and  there  are  con- 
siderably more  than  fifty-seven  varieties 
of  people !  You  might  try  in  a  case  of  this 
kind  to  direct  your  canvass  to  the  real 
customer,  and  you  can  often  go  so  far  as 
to  say  tactfully,  "Madam,  despite  the  fact 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  51 

that  your  friend  here  does  not  like  this 
suit,  it  looks  to  me  as  if  it  is  exactly  right 
for  you.  Now,  just  see  for  yourself  how 
it  looks.  After  all,  you  know,  you  are  the 
one  to  be  pleased  with  the  suit — not  your 
friends." 

There  are  occasions,  altho,  when  the  real 
customer  relies  so  much  on  the  other  per- 
son's judgment  that  it  is  necessary  to  sell 
to  the  companion,  as  it  were,  and  through 
her  make  the  sale  to  the  customer.  This 
is  a  matter  to  be  determined  by  the  cir- 
cumstances. 

If  the  companion  is  really  a  good  critic, 
it  may  help  to  pass  a  judicious  compliment 
on  her  judgment.  Flattery  is  dangerous 
but  honest  compliments  sometimes  help 
wonderfully. 

DON'T  SAY 

Don't  say  "Lady,  you  have  dropt  your 
glove."  This  is  a  cheap  use  of  the  word 
"Lady";  use  "Madam"  instead. 

Don't  say  "I  ain't"  or  "We  ain't."  Say 
"T  haven't,"  "We  haven't,"  "We  are  not," 
etc. 


52  SHORT    TALKS 

Don't  say  "awful  nice,"  "awful  stylish," 
"awfully  hard  wear."  You  shouldn't  try 
to  use  big  and  unusual  words,  but  do  try 
to  use  words  that  stand  for  something. 
Study  the  following:  "a  quiet  color,"  "a 
striking  color,"  "a  distinctive  style,"  "un- 
usual quality,"  "very  durable,"  "a  simple 
design  that  you  would  never  tire  of." 

Don't  say  "That  there  waist";  say 
"This"  or  "That"  without  "there." 

Don't  say  "Them  goods";  say  "These 
goods"  or  "Those  goods." 

Be  careful  how  you  say  "Hello,"  "Hello 
there,"  "Come  here."  In  speaking  to 
equals  or  to  superiors  it  is  much  better  to 
say  "Good  morning,"  "How  are  you?" 
"Will  you  come  here,  please,"  "Please 
come  here,"  etc. 

MORE  PLAIN   DON'TS 

Don't  stare  into  vacancy  or  stand 
around  indifferently  when  the  customer  is 
before  you. 

Don't  linger  to  finish  your  chat  with  a 
fellow  worker  when  a  customer  is  in 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  53 

view.  Approach  the  customer  immedi- 
ately with  a  willing  look  and  the  little  for- 
ward movement  that  indicates  readiness  to 
serve. 

Don't  quarrel  or  jest  with  other  sales- 
people in  the  presence  of  the  customer. 

Don't  yawn,  assume  a  bored  look,  or, 
what  is  worse,  an  air  of  condescension. 

Don't  divide  your  attention;  give  your 
entire  interest  to  the  work  at  hand. 

Don't  lean  wearily  on  the  fixtures. 

Don't  chew  gum,  fix  your  hair,  pare 
your  nails,  or  eat  during  working  hours. 

Don't  answer  curtly. 

Don't  carry  on  an  ill-spirited  argument 
with  a  customer.  Talk  quietly  and  reason- 
ably and  even  regretfully  when  the  custo- 
mer becomes  unreasonable  or  angry  and 
talks  loudly. 


Lead  the  way  for  the  customer,  but 
always  let  her  enter  the  elevator  ahead 
of  you.  In  case  a  closed  door  must  be 
opened,  hold  back  the  door  for  the  cus- 
tomer to  pass  through. 


54  SHORT    TALKS 

GETTING  A  RUNNING  START 

The  salesperson  who  commands  confi- 
dence and  interest  at  the  outset  gets  a  run- 
ning start  toward  making  the  sale. 

The  psychologist,  the  smart  gentlemen 
who  write  books  about  the  make-up  of  the 
human  mind,  how  it  works,  and  sb  on,  tell 
us  some  things  that  are  hard  to  under- 
stand. But  they  make  one  clear  enough 
for  everybody  selling  goods  to  understand. 
That  is  this :  The  sale  is  made  first  in  the 
customer's  mind.  To  put  it  another  way, 
the  customer  revolves  the  whole  matter 
over  in  her  mind  and  comes  to  a  decision 
to  buy  before  any  decision  is  announced. 

Now  to  get  this  decision  in  the  custo- 
mer's mind,  everything  that  can  be  done 
in  the  way  of  keeping  the  customer's 
thoughts  moving  in  the  right  direction 
ought  to  be  done.  If  you  combat  the  cus- 
tomer's ideas,  get  her  displeased  or  con- 
fused, your  chance  of  making  a  sale  im- 
mediately becomes  less. 

A  customer  usually  comes  to  the  store 
with  something  special  in  her  mind. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  55 

Let's  say  that  it's  a  brown  sweater.  Now 
you  may  think  red  sweaters  or  green 
sweaters  are  much  prettier  than  brown 
ones,  but  for  some  reason  or  other  that  is 
really  none  of  the  store's  business  the  cus- 
tomer is  interested  particularly  in  brown 
sweaters.  By  showing  brown  sweaters,  if 
you  have  any,  you  immediately  command 
her  interest.  You  have  shown  respect  and 
courtesy  for  her  preference — and  that  she 
is  entitled  to. 

Having  shown  her  the  color  she  asked 
for,  if  she  does  not  seem  satisfied  with  what 
you  have  put  before  her,  it  is  perfectly 
proper  to  show  other  colors  tactfully.  Pos- 
sibly, after  all,  she  may  see  something  that 
she  really  prefers  to  the  original  color 
named.  But  the  point  is  that  when  a  cus- 
tomer has  a  decided  preference  for  some- 
thing, that  preference  is  a  big  start  to- 
ward a  sale,  and  you  should  cater  to  it,  if 
possible. 


A  good  morning  prayer — Lord,   give 
me  this  day  a  good  balance-wheel. 


56  SHORT    TALKS 

MAKING  SALES  EASY 

The  Saturday  Evening  Post  recently 
told  how  one  salesman  succeeded  in  selling 
a  new  piece  of  goods  to  almost  every  one 
he  approached,  while  another  salesman, 
apparently  just  as  earnest,  failed  almost 
every  time. 

The  difference  was  just  this : 

The  unsuccessful  salesman  did  not  dem- 
onstrate the  article — which  was  a  mechan- 
ical device.  He  tried  to  put  the  sale 
through  on  talk  alone,  and  he  talked  "buy, 
buy,  buy"  instead  of  showing  just  what 
the  article  would  do. 

The  other  salesman  said  very  little  but 
he  showed  quickly  how  the  article  worked 
and  then  put  it  in  the  customer's  hands,  en- 
couraging him  to  try.  The  little  that  this 
salesman  said  was  about  the  service  the 
article  would  give.  He  did  not  have  to 
say  "Buy  it,"  because  when  he  had  shown 
the  features  of  the  article,  the  customer 
was  usually  ready  to  buy  without  argu- 
ment. 

Now,    "demonstration"   merely   means 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  57 

showing  what  the  thing  will  do,  bringing 
out  its  features.  That  may  mean  snapping 
the  cloth  to  show  its  strength,  or  it  may 
mean  running  the  hands  over  smooth 
things  to  show  the  smoothness,  or  it  may 
mean  thumping  a  ball  into  a  baseball  mitt 
for  the  small  boy's  benefit  or  having  a 
waist  or  a  suit  tried  on  to  show  the  fit  and 
the  becomingness.  It  means  getting  ac- 
tion— making  the  customer  actually  see 
the  merit  of  the  merchandise. 

By  demonstrating,  you  can  command 
the  attention  of  the  customer  in  a  way  that 
you  can  never  do  by  merely  pointing  to 
things  and  talking  about  them.  Further- 
more, the  actual  handling  of  the  goods 
stimulates  within  the  customer,  as  a  rule, 
the  desire  to  own.  It  is  always  a  distinct 
advantage  to  have  the  customer  operate 
the  article  if  it  is  something  she  can  be 
trusted  to  handle  or  operate. 

One  salesman  of  bed-springs  points  out 
a  certain  kind  of  spring  and  explains  how 
strong  and  yet  how  springy  such  a  bed  is. 
Another  salesman  makes  good  use  of  that 


58  SHORT    TALKS 

little  demonstrating  section  of  spring  fur- 
nished by  the  manufacturer.  He  gets  on 
that  demonstrator  and  jumps  up  and 
down.  The  customer  may  or  may  not  be- 
lieve the  statements  of  the  first  salesman, 
but  there  is  no  hesitancy  about  believing 
the  second  salesman,  for  he  shows  rather 
than  tells. 


There's  a  kind  of  salesmanship  that  we 
might  call  good-will  salesmanship — the 
kind  that  makes  customers  feel  that  our 
store,  for  some  reason  or  other,  is  the 
most  satisfactory  place  in  town  to  come 
to.  We  can  create  that  feeling  only  by 
giving  genuine  service,  by  treating  every 
person  who  comes  into  the  store  as  if 
that  were  the  only  customer  we  had  for 
the  day. 


If  all  salespeople  would  strive  every 
hour  of  the  day  to  make  shopping  a  pleas- 
ant errand  for  everybody,  a  great  prob- 
lem of  retailing  would  be  solved. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  59 


THE  EXTRA-POLITE  SALESMAN 

^><z> 

r  i  TO  paraphrase  a  paper-manufacturer  s  slo- 
*  gan,  "He  is  a  little  more  polite  than  seems 
necessary" 

And  yet  there  is  no  suspicion  of  gush  or  of 
fawning  in  his  manner.  The  courtesy  is  all 
genuine.  Whether  he  was  born  with  a  natu- 
rally courteous  disposition  or  acquired  it  from 
the  training  of  a  very  fine  mother  does  not  mat- 
ter. He  has  the  great  asset.  He  steps  aside 
for  superiors  or  elderly  persons;  he  remem- 
bers to  say,  "Thank  POU"  and  "If  you  please19; 
he  listens  attentively,  he  moves  quietly,  and 
has  all  the  little  refinements  of  good  breeding. 
He  stands  head  and  shoulders  above  his 
fellows,  and  I  believe  that  his  rare  courtesy  ac- 
counts for  it. 


60  SHORT    TALKS 

TALKS  BY  THE  OBSERVER 

The  Observer  has  just  finished  reading 
a  fine  little  book  called  "The  Telephone 
Smile."  It  is  really  a  handbook  on  tele- 
phone salesmanship  put  out  by  one  of  the 
biggest  stores  of  the  East  for  the  purpose 
of  making  shopping  by  telephone  as  agree- 
able and  convenient  as  possible. 

That  title,  "The  Telephone  Smile/'  is 
fine.  It  emphasizes  the  idea  that  we  need 
in  our  telephone  talk  just  the  cordiality 
and  the  willingness  that  we  show  or  that 
we  ought  to  show  when  we  deal  with 
people  face  to  face. 

It's  a  curious  trait  of  human  nature, 
isn't  it,  that  we  will  do  lots  of  things  when 
we  are  not  facing  people  that  we  wouldn't 
think  of  doing  if  we  were  looking  into  the 
eyes  of  the  one  that  we  are  talking  to. 

It  is  so  easy  to  yank  down  the  receiver — 
yank  expresses  it,  doesn't  it? — and  call 
out  in  a  bored  or  impatient  way,  "Well," 
"What  is  it?"  "Wait  a  minute,"  "Wrong 
number,"  "Wrong  department,"  etc. 
These  expressions  are  short  to  the  point 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  61 

of  curtness  anyhow,  and  usually  the  tone 
makes  them  worse. 

Now,  just  remember  this :  the  person  at 
the  other  en'd  of  the  wire — don't  call  him  a 
"party"  or  think  of  him  as  a  party — can 
not  see  your  face.  He  is  not  gifted  with 
mind-reading  powers  and  is  not  going  to 
imagine  that  you  are  an  agreeable  person, 
eager  to  serve  him  and  your  employer 
well,  unless  you  show  it.  There  is  just 
one  sense  brought  into  use  in  telephoning 
— that  of  hearing,  and  if  you  don't  put  the 
smile  into  your  tone,  the  customer  won't 
get  it. 

Do  you  get  that — the  "voice  with  the 
smile  in  it"  ?  The  Observer  knows  a  case 
where  a  young  woman  of  unusually  good 
nature  gets  two  or  three  extra  dollars  a 
week  just  because  of  her  ability  to  put  the 
smile  into  her  voice.  It's  too  bad  that  a 
word-picture  of  her  simple  "hello"  can  not 
be  put  here  but  it  can't  be  done.  Her 
cheery  greeting  is  not  gushy,  it  is  not  af- 
fected, but  it  has  music  and  mellowness  to 
it.  Its  charm  as  it  comes  over  the  cold 


62  SHORT    TALKS 

wire  suggests  that  may  be  she  has  just 
come  in  from  a  walk  over  the  dewy  fields 
on  a  bright  sunshiny  morning  and  brought 
some  of  the  good  cheer  into  the  office  with 
her.  You  get  just  those  two  musical  syl- 
lables and  you  instantly  know  that  there 
is  somebody  at  the  other  end  glad  to  get 
your  message,  glad  to  serve  you  well ;  and 
you  think  well  of  that  office. 

Never  mind  if  Nature  didn't  give  you 
the  sweet  mellowness  that  this  young  girl 
has  in  her  voice.  Just  put  real  courtesy, 
the  spirit  of  real  service,  into  your  an- 
swers ;  and  the  smile  will  be  there. 


You  have  heard  about  the  sixth  sense, 
of  course — that  instinct  that  enables  us  to 
see  through  sham. 

Everybody  has  some  of  this  sixth  sense, 
and  there  isn't  much  use  of  pretending  to 
be  serving  well  when  you  are  really  not 
doing  so.  You  are  probably  not  fooling 
the  other  person  any  more  than  you  are 
fooling  yourself. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  63 

The  Observer  was  in  a  hat  store  the 
other  day.  The  salesman  that  came  for- 
ward was  one  of  these  bluffing,  flattering 
fellows.  You  know  the  kind;  "Just  t^e 
thing  this  year,  old  man — looks  great  on 
you.  Don't  like  it?  Humph,  that's 
strange.  Everybody's  buying  them."  And 
the  Observer  was  saucy  enough  to  say, 
"But  everybody's  not  going  to  wear  the 
hat  I  buy.  I  am  going  to  wear  it." 

Then  there  is  another  hat  store,  where 
there  is  a  quiet,  conscientious  fellow  who 
sizes  you  up  and  brings  out  several  hats 
somewhere  near  right  for  a  man  of  your 
build  and  age.  The  Observer  tried  on  first 
one  and  then  another  and  was  pleased  to 
see  that  Mr.  Real  Hat  Salesman  showed 
no  disposition  to  rush  things.  "That  hat," 
said  he  finally,  "looks  pretty  well  on  you, 
but  it  is  just  a  little  too  big  a  hat,  I  think, 
for  a  man  of  your  build.  That  hat  is  well 
suited  to  the  judge  with  the  bushy  head 
that  went  out  as  you  left;  but  here  is  the 
hat  I'd  rather  see  you  buy,  altho  of  course, 
now,  you'll  take  the  one  you  want." 


64  SHORT    TALKS 

His  judgment  was  sound  and  he  was 
thanked  for  his  real  service.  He  knew 
hats.  Maybe  he  doesn't  sell  as  many  some 
days  as  the  clever  sport  in  the  other  store, 
but  as  long  as  the  Observer  lives  in  the 
town  where  Mr.  Real  Hat  Salesman  does 
business,  that  store  will  get  one  man's 

business. 

*  * 

Yes,  indeed,  it  is  a  great  thing  to  be 
able  to  talk  well,  but  do  you  know  that 
good  listeners  are  even  rarer  than  good 
talkers. 

Isn't  it  a  delightful  experience  to  run 
across  some  one  who  will  listen  attentively 
and  understandingly  to  just  what  you  say 
— who  will  not  let  attention  wander  for 
a  moment.  You  know  how  you  feel  when 
the  other  person  looks  absent-minded  or 
diverted,  or  breaks  in  before  you  have  said 
what  you  wanted  to  say. 

A  lot  of  poor  sales-work  and  other  kinds 
of  poor  work  may  be  explained  by  the  sim- 
ple fact  that  people  do  not  force  them- 
selves to  listen  keenly. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  65 

You  forget,  do  you?  Well,  you  prob- 
ably need  no  memory  system  to  help  you 
to  remember.  Just  try  the  plan  of  listen- 
ing well. 

The  greatest  compliment  you  can  give 
people  is  to  listen  carefully  and  sympa- 
thetically to  what  they  have  to  say.  Keen 
listening  means  that  you  will  get  the  best 
possible  idea  of  what  the  situation  is  and 
that  you  will  know  how  to  proceed. 

"Talked  to  death"  might  appropriately 
be  made  the  epitaph  of  many  a  lost  sale. 

Give  the  customer  a  chance,  and  listen ! 
That's  what  your  ears  were  made  for. 


"Good  morning!"  and  "Thank  you!" 
They  are  simple  things  to  say  but  so 
often  they  smooth  the  way  to  a  good  be- 
ginning or  leave  the  other  person  with  a 
pleasant  little  recollection  of  the  inter- 
view. Don't  be  stingy  with  your  "Good 
mornings"  and  your  "Thank  you's."  Say 
them  clearly  and  graciously.  Say  them 
for  your  own  sake  as  well  as  for  the 
other  fellow's. 


66  SHORT    TALKS 


IF  YOU  WERE  BOSS 


is  there  going  on  around  your  sec- 
iion  of  the  store  that  you  could  and 
would  improve? 

Would  you  stand  for  ignorance  of  stock, 
careless  handling  of  it,  inattention  to  work,  f°r 
waste  of  time  and  materials,  for  careless,  un~ 
tactful  dealing  with  customers? 

A  Cleveland  writer  tells  of  a  young  man 
who  once  spent  a  little  time  figuring  what  he 
would  do  if  he  were  boss  —  who  PUT  HIS 
THINKING  INTO  PRACTISE,  and  who 
was  soon  in  a  position  of  greater  responsibility. 

Wasn't  strange,  was  it?  The  same  thing 
could  happen  to  SOME  ONE  ELSE. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  67 

OVERCOMING  DIFFIDENCE 

Don't  be  distrest  over  the  fact  that  you 
have  a  diffident,  sensitive  nature.  It  is  a 
weakness  to  be  overcome,  of  course,  but 
you  are  much  more  blest  than  people  of 
the  opposite  type — those  who  have  "brass 
enough  to  run  a  foundry."  You  at  least 
have  a  fine-grained  nature,  and  tho  it  may 
be  too  ready  to  receive  impressions,  you 
see  and  feel  much  more  of  the  better  things 
of  life  than  the  nervy  person  who  seems 
never  to  know  when  he  is  tiresome  or  an- 
noying. 

"Introspection,"  which  is  a  good-sized 
word  that  stands  for  the  art  of  looking 
within  and  studying  yourself,  is  a  fine 
thing  so  long  as  you  don't  go  too  far  and 
find  so  much  fault  with  yourself  that  you 
stunt  your  own  growth.  It  is  an  old  say- 
ing that  a  fault  realized  is  a  fault  half 
corrected ;  so  you  can  count  yourself  lucky 
that  you  know  your  own  faults  and  are 
not  obliged  to  wait  until  some  outraged 
person  takes  you  by  the  ears  and  shouts 
them  in  your  face. 


68  SHORT    TALKS 

Diffidence  and  supersensitiveness  are 
faults  that  can  be  overcome.  In  the  first 
place,  they  rest  on  a  false  basis.  If 
you  are  diffident  or  sensitive,  you  imagine 
that  people  are  paying  a  great  deal  more 
attention  to  you  than  they  really  are  do- 
ing. There  is  absolutely  no  doubt  of  this. 

There  is  absolutely  no  doubt  of  another 
thing — that  you  have  the  will-power  to 
overcome  your  fault.  All  you  have  to  do 
is  to  resolve  and  keep  on  resolving  that  you 
will  overcome  it,  and  then  don't  keep  the 
fault  in  your  mind  but  just  go  ahead  and 
lose  yourself  in  your  work.  Diffidence 
fades  like  mist  before  the  morning  sun 
when  you  get  enthusiastic  about  your 
work. 

One  of  the  best  salesmen  of  New  York 
City  says  that  when  he  first  took  up  out- 
side selling  work  after  having  been  for  a 
long  time  in  an  office  position  he  would 
sometimes  walk  up  and  down  before  a 
place  of  business  before  he  could  screw 
up  enough  courage  to  go  in  and  talk  his 
proposition.  But  he  knew  that  was  fool- 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  69 

ishness.  He  knew  that  he  "averaged  up" 
pretty  well  with  other  folks  and  he  made 
up  his  mind  that  he  would  jump  right  at 
his  job  day  in  and  day  out  and  keep  so 
busy  that  he  wouldn't  have  time  to  think 
about  his  self-consciousness.  Of  course 
he  conquered  it.  He  never  became  a  loud, 
self-assertive  salesman.  He  didn't  need  to 
become  one  of  that  type;  it  is  fast  going 
out  of  fashion.  But  he  became  a  conser- 
vative, quiet,  well-mannered  gentleman 
whose  words  and  actions  bespeak  earnest- 
ness and  conscientiousness ;  and  that's  the 
kind  of  salesmen  people  want  to  do  busi- 
ness with  to-day. 

You  can  do  it,  too.  Use  that  will  of 
yours. 

Think  about  your  work,  and  the  self 
business  will  soon  settle  itself. 

KNOW  WHAT'S  ADVERTISED 

The  advertisements  of  the  store  won't 
sell  goods.  They  just  draw  people  with- 
in the  doors.  Then  the  job  is  one  for  the 
salesmen  and  saleswomen.  They  must  be- 


70  SHORT    TALKS 

gin  where  the  advertisements  left  off — 
must  know  where  the  advertised  goods 
are,  and  show  them  intelligently  and  en- 
thusiastically. 

The  store  has  provided  a  way  by  which 
you  may  know  just  what  goods  of  your 
section  are  advertised.  See  to  it  that  you 
are  familiar  with  every  item. 

Nothing  so  hinders  a  sale  as  to  have  a 
salesperson  look  blank  when  certain  ad- 
vertised articles  are  mentioned.  Custom- 
ers will  naturally  expect  the  people  of 
the  store  to  be  familiar  with  the  styles  and 
values  that  are  worth  advertising.  If  they 
are  not,  who  can  blame  the  customer  for 
leaving  in  disappointment  or  disgust? 

Study  the  advertisements ! 

THE    INDIRECT   COMPLIMENT 

It  is  good  salesmanship  to  say  pleasing 
things  when  they  can  be  said  truthfully, 
but  a  good  deal  of  tact  is  necessary  in  say- 
ing pleasing  things  of  a  personal  nature. 

Some  customers  are  quick  to  resent  the 
compliments  or  personal  opinions  of  sales- 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  71 

people,  and  often  they  are  quite  within 
their  rights  in  so  doing. 

If  the  customer  asks:  "How  do  you 
like  this  coat  on  me  ?"  it  is  perfectly  proper 
to  answer,  "I  like  the  effect  very  much," 
that  is,  if  you  really  do.  But  to  say,  "That 
is  just  the  thing  for  you/'  without  being 
invited  to  pass  such  a  personal  opinion, 
borders  on  impertinence. 

Now  there  is  a  right  way  of  accom- 
plishing the  end,  as  there  usually  is  a  right 
way  of  doing  everything.  If  the  custom- 
er is  a  fairly  tall  woman  she  will  be  in- 
terested to  hear  that  "This  model  was  de- 
signed especially  for  tall  figures." 

As  Edna  Collamore  says,  "This  puts  the 
emphasis  on  where  it  belongs,  on  the  coat 
rather  than  on  the  wearer." 

"A  man  of  broad  shoulders  can't  get  a 
more  striking  coat  than  that"  is  not  likely 
to  give  offense,  while,  "You  have  such  fine 
shoulders"  will  not  be  pleasing  except  to 
the  man  who  is  easily  flattered. 

Practise  the  indirect  compliment.  It  is 
a  part  of  the  fine  art  of  selling. 


72  SHORT    TALKS 

TALKS  BY  THE  OBSERVER 

The  Observer  was  in  a  busy  food 
market  the  other  day  and  along  with  his 
buying  he  gathered  two  real  lessons. 

A  chicken  huckster  was  selling  his 
wares.  How  enthusiastically  he  did  hold 
up  his  chickens  by  the  feet  while  he  talked 
of  their  weight  and  quality  !  "He's  a  fine 
fat  fellow,"  he  would  say.  He  usually  got 
the  customer  to  give  the  chicken  "a  heft," 
too,  evidently  knowing  that  a  sale  is  easier 
made  when  you  can  get  the  customer  to 
handling  and  inspecting  the  article.  This 
huckster  knew  chickens  ;  he  believed  in  the 
quality  of  his  chickens;  he  demonstrated 
enthusiastically;  and  he  sold  chickens. 
That's  about  all  there  is  to  salesmanship. 


THe  other  lesson  was  gathered  at  the 
celery  stand.  A  customer  had  picked  out 
an  apparently  fair  bunch,  but  the  salesman 
stopt  her.  "That  isn't  a  very  good  bunch, 
madam.  I'd  rather  you  would  take  this 
one.  We  like,  you  know,  "to  have  every- 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  73 

body  pleased  when  they  get  home  with 
their  purchases." 

The  customer  also  knew  a  thing  or  two, 
for  she  said:  "Thank  you/'  and  then  she 
added,  "You  know  and  I  know  that  that 
is  good  merchandising.  What  a  pity  it 
is  that  more  people  don't  know  it." 

Making  a  friend  for  the  store  with  every 
purchase — what  a  great  idea  is  wrapt  up 
in  that  thought.  There  are  not  many 
businesses  that  could  continue  if  the  cus- 
tomer bought  just  once  and  never  came 
back.  Profitable  merchandising  means 
making  every  sale  such  a  pleasant  and 
satisfactory  transaction  that  the  customer 
goes  away  highly  pleased  with  the  goods 
and  the  service,  will  continue  to  have 
pleasant  thoughts  of  the  store  and  the 
salesperson,  and  will  come  back  again 
voluntarily  when  he  or  she  has  need  of 
something  else  that  the  store  has  for 
sale. 

If  you  are  looking  for  a  motto  for 
success,  you  can't  beat — "A  friend  for  the 
store  with  every  purchase." 


74  SHORT    TALKS 

The  Observer  was  reading  some  ath- 
letic comments  the  other  day  and  was 
struck  with  this  criticism  of  a  ball-player 
whose  work  for  several  years  com- 
manded considerable  attention:  "He 
seems  more  passive  —  does  not  look  as 
keenly  interested  as  he  once  was  —  and 
his  speed  has  consequently  let  down." 

No  matter  what  it  is  —  ball-playing, 
manufacturing,  preaching,  selling  goods, 
or  something  else,  when  people  get  pas- 
sive and  are  not  keenly  interested  in  their 
work,  their  "speed"  is  sure  to  let  down. 
The  only  way  to  play  the  game  as  it 
ought  to  be  played  is  to  concentrate  on 
it  with  all  your  heart  and  energy,  to  be 
active  rather  than  passive.  Then  you 
can  show  your  true  speed  and  get  some- 
where. 


Speaking  about  passiveness:  the  Ob- 
server was  in  a  china  section  of  a  big 
store  last  week,  watching  two  sales- 
women work.  One  merely  followed  cus- 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  75 

tomers  around  and  answered  questions 
when  customers  insisted  on  having  a 
little  information.  You  know  the  type! 
The  other  young  woman  was  pleasingly 
active  and  yet  not  too  much  so.  Now 
and  then  she  used  the  electric  bulb  to 
show  the  quality  of  a  certain  piece.  She 
was  quick  to  see  the  trend  of  the  cus- 
tomer's preference  and  would  lead  to 
goods  of  that  kind.  She  knew  her  goods, 
too  —  knew  how  to  talk  about  the  dainty 
patterns,  etc.  Is  there  any  need  to  an- 
swer the  question  of  who  sold  the  goods 
in  that  department? 


She  seemed  to  be  an  alert  girl,  but  the 
superintendent  noticed  that  buttons  were 
missing  off  her  shoes.  Nevertheless,  he 
was  still  in  doubt  until  along  in  the  con- 
versation she  said  "them  goods."  That 
settled  it.  The  store  could  not  afford  to 
have  salespeople  saying  "them  goods," 
"I  seen,"  etc.,  to  its  customers. 

And  then  there  were  two  boys  apply- 


76  SHORT    TALKS 

ing  for  positions.  One  was  clean  and 
bright,  and  he  said,  "yes,  sir/'  never 
failing  to  add  the  "sir."  The  other  boy 
was  neatly  drest,  but  he  had  just  a  little 
look  of  sulkiness  or  unwillingness  in 
his  face,  and  his  finger-nails  were  black. 
The  superintendent  did  the  unexpected 
thing.  Perhaps  he  felt  called  on  to  do 
a  little  missionary  work.  He  said: 
"Why  don't  you  keep  your  finger-nails 
clean?  Do  you  suppose  we  would  have 
anybody  behind  our  counters  with  fingers 
like  yours?"  The  young  fellow  blushed 
and  muttered,  clenched  his  hat  and 
walked  out. 

After  all,  this  success  business  is 
largely  a  matter  of  the  survival  of  the 
fittest.  Would  you  climb  the  ladder? 
Then  look  to  your  speech,  your  dress, 
your  personal  cleanliness,  your  manners. 


Yes,  it  is  worth  while  having  the  cus- 
tomer look  at  the  end  of  the  transaction 
as  if  she  felt  obliged  to  you  for  making 
her  shopping  so  satisfactory  and  pleasant. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  77 

WORDS  COMMONLY  MISUSED 

SAYS. — The  expressions  "I  says"  and 
"he  says"  are  frequently  used  with  refer- 
ence to  the  past;  the  correct  forms  are 
"I  said"  and  "he  said."  In  fact,  "I 
says"  should  never  be  used,  the  form 
for  present  time  being  "I  say." 

THEM  FOR  THOSE  OR  THESE. — "Them" 
is  commonly  used  in  error  for  "those"  or 
"these";  say  "those  goods"  or  "these 
goods,"  not  "them  goods"  or  "them  there 
goods." 

THEY,  THERE. — "They"  is  sometimes 
improperly  used  for  "there."  "They 
(There)  is  no  way  to  do  it." 

THIS  HERE,,  THAT  THERE. — We  should 
say  "this  man,"  not  "this  here  man"; 
"that  sample,"  not  "that  there  sample." 

THOSE  KIND,  THESE  KIND. — A  very 
common  error  is  the  use  of  "those  kind" 
or  "these  kind"  for  "that  kind"  or  "this 
kind." 

WENT,  GONE. — Say  "He  has  gone," 
not  "He  has  went";  it  is  correct,  how- 
ever, to  say  "He  went." 


78  SHORT    TALKS 

THAT  VOICE  OF  YOURS 

One  of  the  very  first  things  that  im- 
presses the  customer  is  the  salesperson's 
voice.  When  the  customer  approaches, 
the  greeting  of  the  salesperson  makes  a 
quick  impression,  good,  bad,  or  indiffer- 
ent, according  as  the  voice  is  pleasing, 
discordantly  loud,  annoyingly  shrill,  pro- 
vokingly  mumbling,  or  something  else. 

Now,  then,  of  course  it  goes  without 
saying  that  all  of  us  can  not  have  the 
most  musical  and  agreeable  voices,  but 
the  plain  truth  is  that  most  of  the  dis- 
agreeable quality  in  voices  comes  from 
careless  habits.  The  person  who  yells 
and  who  disturbs  everybody  fifty  feet 
away  could  tone  down  his  voice  if  he 
would  only  try  to  do  so.  And  the  owners 
of  shrill  voices  would  be  less  like  mag- 
pies if  they  wouldn't  try  to  talk  at  a  gait 
of  250  words  a  minute,  but  would  curb 
themselves  and  thus  get  breath  to  put  a 
little  more  fulness  into  their  tones. 

A  good  many  people  in  this  world  of 
ours  talk  as  if  their  mouths  were  full  of 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  79 

rice  pudding  or  mush.  Instead  of  manipu- 
lating their  lips  and  tongues  so  as  to 
articulate  clearly,  they  loll  their  useful 
talking  apparatus  around  most  shame- 
fully. Talk  to  yourself  in  the  mirror 
now  and  then  and  you  will  see  what  I 
mean.  If  you  are  guilty  of  the  bad  habit 
of  mouthing  and  mumbling,  try  to  over- 
come it,  even  if  you  talk  less.  Most  of 
us  could  reduce  our  talking  one-half  and 
get  along  better. 

You  can't  talk  and  giggle  at  the  same 
time.  Nor  was  it  intended  that  a  big 
wad  of  gum,  or  a  pencil  or  a  bunch  of 
pins  should  be  in  the  mouth  while  the 
talking  operation  is  in  progress. 

There  is  a  wonderful  difference  in  the 
way  that  people  say  "Good  morning." 
Some  say  it  as  if,  indeed,  it  is  a  wonder- 
ful morning.  The  lopped-off  "Morning!" 
of  others  has  a  sort  of  cur-dog-bark  finish 
to  it. 

Your  voice  is  a  precious  possession. 
Study  it.  Find  its  faults.  Give  it  a 
chance  to  truly  represent  your  character. 


80  SHORT    TALKS 

THE   CUSTOMER'S   ATTITUDE 

"I  used  to  think/'  says  a  successful  re- 
tailer, "that  people  were  exceedingly 
cranky,  that  they  made  much  ado  over 
little  things,  and  that  I  was  often  justi- 
fied in  squelching  them.  And  then  one 
day  I  began  to  wonder  if  there  wasn't  a 
great  deal  of  difference  between  the  point 
of  view  of  the  person  behind  the  counter 
and  that  of  the  one  in  front  of  it. 

"I  began  to  analyze  my  own  feelings 
as  I  went  to  other  stores  to  buy  things — 
the  goods  that  my  money  had  to  be  spent 
for.  I  found  that  I  often  had  some 
special  article  in  mind.  Maybe  it  was 
no  better  than  other  goods  of  a  similar 
kind,  but  I  had  set  my  mind  on  that  par- 
ticular thing,  and  I  found  that  I  expected 
salespeople  to  take  an  interest  in  my 
needs  as  I  stated  them,  that  I  wanted 
time  to  examine  the  details  carefully  and 
to  compare  the  article  first  called  for  with 
other  articles. 

"I  discovered  that  when  it  was  my 
money  that  was  being  spent  and  that 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  81 

when  I  was  the  person  that  had  to  wear 
or  use  the  merchandise  bought,  I  was  as 
cranky,  as  hard  to  please,  as  easily  af- 
fronted by  neglect  or  poor  salesmanship 
as  the  crankiest  crank  that  ever  paused 
before  my  counter  back  in  the  good  old 
store  that  brought  me  my  salary. 

"When  I  made  this  discovery  I  went 
back  to  the  store  a  superior  salesman. 
Thereafter  I  tried  to  put  myself  in  the 
customer's  place,  and  I  think  I  discovered 
one  of  the  great  secrets  of  salesmanship." 

Study  out  the  most  effective  way  of 
demonstrating  your  goods  and  watch 
your  sales-total  grow. 


Don't  deceive  yourself,  because  you  are 
really  not  deceiving  the  customer  when 
you  pretend  to  be  giving  attention  while 
all  the  time  your  mind  is  on  something 
else.  You  can  tell  when  others  give  you 
this  sort  of  attention  (?).  The  customer 
is  just  as  perceptive. 


82  SHORT    TALES 


JUST  BE   THOROUGH 

successful  man  and  "Woman  I  ever 
knew  or  heard  about  was  a  thorough 
worker. 

You  dont  have  to  be  popular  or  pretty  to 
win  business  laurels. 

Just  think  about  and  do  well  the  things  that 
others  have  to  be  told  to  do. 

Just  know  your  goods  a  little  better  than  "the 
average." 

Be  a  little  more  energetic,  enthusiastic,  and 
attentive,  a  little  more  courteous,  a  little  more 
loyal 

See  things  through  to  a  fine  finish  every  time 
— every  day. 

That's  thoroughness  and  thafs  happiness. 
It's  what  we  always  call  success — and  some- 
times genius. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  83 

THE  WHOLESALE  HABIT 

There  are  certain  kinds  of  goods  that 
people  buy  regularly  and  that  they  can 
buy  more  economically  by  purchasing  a 
fair  quantity  at  a  time. 

Here's  a  canned  food,  we  will  say,  that 
sells  at  ten  cents  a  can  or  three  cans  for 
twenty-five  cents.  The  woman  who  asks 
the  price  can  probably  use  three  cans  just 
as  well  as  one.  She  will  save  five  cents 
by  so  doing,  as  well  as  another  errand, 
and  your  store  will  capture  the  sale  of 
two  cans  that  might  otherwise  go  to  your 
competitor  around  the  corner. 

There  are  a  great  many  goods  on  which 
a  quantity  price  is  made,  so  many  for 
twenty-five  cents,  so  many  for  fifty  cents, 
or  an  attractive  lot  for  one  dollar. 

Of  course,  this  must  be  kept  in  mind 
— that  customers  do  not  come  to  a  store 
to  be  pestered  into  buying  things  that 
they  can't  use  to  advantage  or  more  than 
they  can  use.  But  I  am  talking  about 
goods  that  they  are  certain  to  be  able  to 
use  to  advantage.  What's  the  use  of  one 


84  SHORT    TALKS 

cake  of  serviceable  soap  being  bought  at 
five  cents  if  half  a  dozen  cakes  can  be  had 
for  twenty-five  cents. 

It  costs  money  to  bring  customers  into 
the  store.  The  customer  before  you,  in- 
terested in  the  goods,  presents  a  golden 
opportunity.  Sell  her  as  much  as  she 
can  use  to  advantage.  At  least  be  sales- 
man enough  to  give  her  the  opportunity 
to  buy  the  larger  quantity  at  the  more 
attractive  price:  "These  are  forty  cents 
each  or  three  for  a  dollar"  puts  the 
matter  up  to  her  in  a  salesmanship  way. 

YOUR  EYES 

The  Great  Book  has  something  to  say 
about  those  who  "having  eyes,  see  not." 
What  was  true  when  those  words  were 
written  seems  to  be  just  as  true  now- 
adays. 

I  suppose  I  have  had  a  shave  or  a  hair 
trim  from  at  least  a  thousand  barbers  in 
my  life. 

My  way  of  brushing  my  hair  is  not 
very  peculiar,  but  I  can  not  recall  more 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  85 

than  two  barbers  out  of  the  thousand 
who  brushed  my  hair,  when  he  got 
through,  the  way  I  like  it.  I  asked  one 
of  these  lonesome  two  how  he  happened 
to  hit  it  right,  and  what  do  you  suppose 
he  said?  "I  always  look  at  a  man's  hair 
when  he  first  sits  in  my  chair,  so  as  to 
see  how  he  brushes  it." 

Just  used  his  eyes,  that's  all. 

What"  applies  to  barbers  applies  to 
salespeople  and  others.  It  is  said  of  a 
great  detective  that  he  seems  to  take  in 
everything  in  a  room  at  a  glance  as  soon 
as  he  enters.  His  keen  observation  en- 
ables him  to  act  with  tact  and  certainty 
where  other  people  would  guess  and 
blunder. 

The  customer  is  full  of  suggestions  for 
you  if  you  will  only  observe  keenly.  Of 
course  it  goes  without  saying  that  you 
ought  to  do  your  observing  without  any 
appearance  of  staring  or  of  inquisitive- 
ness.  The  customer's  dress  indicates 
clearly  the  taste  of  the  person.  There 
are  some  exceptions  to  this  rule.  Some 


86  SHORT    TALES 

times  people  who  do  rough  work  and  who 
go  about  looking  rather  ordinary  are  in 
the  market  for  the  best  class  of  goods. 
Hence  it  will  not  do  to  jump  to  conclu- 
sions from  a  mere  glance.  The  Great 
Book  right  where  it  comments  on  those 
who  having  eyes  see  not  also  has  some- 
thing to  say  about  those  who  "having 
ears,  hear  not." 

Are  you  using  eyes  and  ears  to  the 
best  advantage  in  determining  what  will 
please  customers? 

Don't  let  a  customer  go  away  dissatis- 
fied without  referring  the  matter  to  some 
one  higher  in  authority. 


A  well-located  store  pays  a  heavy  rent, 
or  a  heavy  tax,  for  its  windows.  This 
space  and  the  space  bought  for  adver- 
tising purposes  in  the  newspapers  and 
elsewhere  cost  a  large  sum  of  money. 
Study  out  ways  and  means  of  making 
that  investment  bring  proper  returns. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  87 

TALKS  BY  THE  OBSERVER 

Here  is  an  interesting  item  that  the 
eye  of  the  Observer  caught  right  away 
the  other  evening  as  he  settled  down  to 
get  the  day's  news: 

MRS.    SAYRE   LOSES   HER 
PURSE 

EMBARRASSED     WHILE      SHOPPING,      BUT 
CLERK    OFFERS    WHOLE    STORE 


NORTH  ADAMS,  MASS.,  March 
Mrs.  Francis  B.  Sayre,  daughter  of 
President  Wilson,  will  probably  remem- 
ber for  some  time  her  first  shopping  trip 
to  this  city  since  starting  housekeeping 
at  Williamstown. 

After  making  a  few  purchases  in  a 
local  store  she  discovered  with  some 
signs  of  confusion  that  her  pocket-book 
had  been  left  at  home.  Mrs.  Sayre 
blushed  as  she  explained  her  predica- 
ment. 

Upon  learning  his  customer's  identity 
the  clerk  soon  put  her  at  ease,  how- 
ever, by  saying  "That  will  be  all  right, 
Mrs.  Sayre;  we  would  gladly  trust  you 
for  the  whole  store  if  you  wanted  it." 


88  SHORT    TALKS 

Now,  of  course,  this  quick-witted  sales- 
man, who  handled  an  embarrassing  situ- 
ation so  cleverly  for  his  employer,  did  not 
have  to  credit  the  daughter  of  the  Presi- 
dent for  the  "whole  store."  That  was 
just  his  gentlemanly,  hearty  way  of  put- 
ting the  thing.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  he 
did  not  have  to  get  any  special  authority 
for  what  he  did. 

This  SALESMAN — the  capital  letters  are 
merited — realized  that  he  represented  the 
store  and  that  a  distinguished  guest  was 
being  served.  He  had  initiative.  He 
had  a  head  on  him.  And  he  used  it  in 
doing  the  right  thing,  the  gracious  thing, 
on  his  own  account,  without  having  to 
be  coached.  Result,  his  store  is  getting 
valuable  publicity. 

Go  where  you  will,  you  will  find  em- 
ployers yearning  for  salespeople  of  this 
kind,  and  you  will  find  also  employers 
weary,  almost  to  discouragement,  over 
the  small  proportion  of  young  people  who 
have  the  quality  of  going  ahead  with 
initiative  and  doing  things  the  right  way. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  89 

The  stock  in  that  kind  of  shoe  was  low, 
and  it  was  easy  to  see  that  the  sales- 
woman had  a  problem  before  her  when  the 
customer  asked  for  an  exact  duplicate  of 
the  shoe  she  had  on.  But  this  sales- 
woman had  the  gumption  to  know  that 
very  often,  even  when  people  are  pleased 
with  a  certain  kind  of  article  that  they 
have  been  wearing,  something  else  may 
be  found  that  will  suit  just  as  well  or 
better.  She  didn't  have  the  customer's 
size  in  the  last  called  for,  but  she  skilfully 
demonstrated  two  other  shoes  that  were 
close  to  what  the  customer  sought.  She 
got  the  customer  to  try  them  on,  and 
that  without  undue  insistence. 

But  the  customer  would  have  nothing 
but  the  last  that  had  given  such  good 
satisfaction.  As  she  rose  to  go,  the  Ob- 
server watched  to  see  if  the  sale  would 
be  lost  to  the  store.  It  looked  as  if  it 
would  be.  But  the  resourceful  sales- 
woman said:  "If  we  could  get  them  for 
you  by  the  end  of  the  week,  wouldn't 
that  do?  We  could  send  in  an  order  to- 


90  SHORT    TALKS 

day  to  the  factory  and  have  them  de- 
livered specially  by  parcel  post."  She 
had  her  book  ready,  and  the  thing  was 
fixt  up  in  a  jiffy.  Such  is  real  salesman- 
ship. 

A  customer  costs  too  much  for  one 
ever  to  be  lost  —  if  the  loss  is  at  all  avoid- 
able. 


How  long,  wonders  the  Observer,  is 
it  going  to  take  salespeople  everywhere 
to  learn  that  it  is  cheap  and  crude  to  say, 
"This  is  a  fine  piece,  mister,"  "Here  is 
just  what  you  want,  Mrs.,"  or  "Don't 
you  like  this,  ma'am?"  "Ma'am"  is 
hardly  as  crude  as  "mister"  and  "Mrs.," 
used  alone.  Neither  "mister"  nor  "Mrs." 
should  be  used  unless  the  name  of  the 
customer  follows.  If  the  name  is  un- 
known, say  "sir"  or  "madam."  Of  course 
the  Class  A  salesperson  will  acquire  the 
names  of  customers  as  far  as  possible, 
for  the  customer  is  always  pleased  to  be 
remembered  by  name. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  91 

"Take  it  home  and  if  you  don't  find  it 
exactly  what  you  want,  we  will  exchange 
it  for  you  gladly."  This  was  not  said 
in  a  cut-and-dried  way,  but  with  genuine- 
ness, and  it  made  the  sale.  After  all, 
it  is  not  so  much  what  you  do,  but  the 
way  you  do  it,  that  counts. 


Measuring  the  foot  or  the  hand  care- 
fully may  not  be  absolutely  necessary  in 
order  to  give  the  customer  an  excellent 
fit  in  shoe  or  glove,  but  it  does  this:  it 
impresses  the  customer,  at  the  outset  of 
the  transaction,  that  you  want  to  give 
good  service.  It  immediately  creates 
confidence,  and  you  can't  beat  that  as 
a  foundation  for  a  sale. 


Once  upon  a  time  there  was  a  shoe 
salesman  who  was  so  diplomatic  that 
when  a  customer  asked  if  one  of  her  feet 
was  not  a  little  larger  than  the  other  he 
ducked  neatly  and  replied  that,  on  the 
contrary,  one  foot  was  a  bit  smaller  than 
the  other! 


92  SHORT    TALKS 

WISHING  AND   WORKING 


people  would  like  to  have  success 
if  it  could  be  caught  as  one  catches 
measles  —  if  it  could  be  secured  by  having  some 
benevolent  soul  pass  it  down  as  a  gift. 

Few  are  willing  to  dig  for  success  —  to  be 
alert  and  eager,  to  concentrate  and  sacrifice, 
and  to  work  a  litle  longer  and  do  their  tasks  a 
little  better  than  necessary. 

But  success  always  comes  as  a  conquest,  not 
as  a  bequest.  It's  more  a  matter  of  pluck  than 
of  luck- 

Other  people  cant  hand  over  experience  and 
well-paid  ability  to  you  as  they  could  a  yard 
of  cloth  or  a  basket  of  potatoes. 

The  winning  of  success  is  a  personal  battle, 
and  you  will  appreciate  the  reward  only  by 
working  hard  and  honestly  for  it. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  93 

A  PAIR  OF  SILK  STOCKINGS 

This  young  man  didn't  seem  to  be  of 
the  fresh,  sporty  variety,  nor  did  he  have 
the  hurried,  harried  look  of  the  married 
man  sent  on  a  shopping  errand  by  his 
wife.  He  was  just  a  frank,  honest- 
looking  fellow. 

He  seemed  somewhat  embarrassed  as 
he  drew  up  to  the  counter  of  the  Hosiery 
Section,  and  Miss  Brennan  felt  instinc- 
tively that  her  first  observation  of  him  did 
not  give  her  the  measure  that  she  usually 
took  of  her  customers.  Clearly,  he  was 
on  a  new  errand,  and  it  was  the  part  of 
the  skilful  saleswoman  on  the  other  side 
of  the  counter  to  help  him  out.  So  she 
turned  with  her  agreeable,  encouraging 
look. 

"I  want  to  get  a  pair  of  real  nice  silk 
stockings — ladies'  stockings,  you  know — 
for  a  present?"  he  began. 

"Yes,"  said  Miss  Brennan.  "Now, 
would  you  like  something  in  a  color  or 
do  you  prefer  the  plain  black  or  white?" 

"Really,    I   don't   know   just   what   to 


94  SHORT    TALKS 

get,"  replied  the  young  man,  his  em- 
barrassment increasing  rather  than  de- 
creasing, "and  I  would  be  greatly  ob- 
liged to  you  for  advice/' 

"Certainly,"  was  the  reply,  and  then 
after  a  pause,  "do  you  wish  them  for 

your  wife  or  for  a  sister  or ?"  Right 

there  Miss  Brennan,  usually  very  re- 
sourceful, found  herself  at  her  rope's  end 
and  began  to  feel  a  little  embarrassed 
herself,  for  she  could  not  imagine  this 
type  of  young  man  sending  silk  stockings 
as  a  sentimental  reminder  to  a  young 
woman  other  than  a  sister. 

"Oh,  no,  I'm  not  married,  miss,  and 
of  course  buying  things  of  this  kind  is 
somewhat  out  of  my  line.  But  it's  this 
way.  I  lived  most  of  my  life  in  a  little 
village  out  in  Monroe  County  and  my 
mother  is  living  out  there  yet.  She  never 
had  much  in  the  way  of  nice  things  and 
none  of  us  was  ever  able  to  do  much  for 
her.  But  I  have  been  doing  pretty  well 
of  late  and  have  been  sending  mother  a 
few  things  to  make  her  comfortable,  and 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  95 

it  just  struck  me  the  other  day  that 
mother  never  had  a  pair  of  silk  stockings 
in  her  life,  and  I  thought  I  would  get  her 
a  nice  pair  as  a  sort  of  surprize.  Now 
you  see  just  what  I  want." 

Miss  Brennan  saw,  and  she  laid  out 
her  recommendations.  "If  you  want  to 
send  something  especially  nice,"  she  said, 
"you  couldn't  do  better  than  a  pair  of 
these  heavy  black  silks  at  $2.50  or  these 
at  $2.  Your  mother  couldn't  fail  to  like 
them  and  they  have  the  very  best  wear- 
ing qualities." 

The  young  man  who  had  come  from 
Monroe  County  to  make  his  way  in  the 
world  passed  his  hands  over  the  stock- 
ings musingly:  "Mother  would  probably 
never  wear  them,"  said  he.  "You  know, 
miss,  I  can  just  see  what  she  will  do 
with  them.  She  never  had  anything  but 
cheap  stuff  almost  all  her  life,  worked 
awfully  hard,  and  she  would  think  that 
something  like  this  was  too  fine  to  wear. 
But  she  will  be  so  pleased  to  think  that 
I  bought  her  a  present  like  this — that  I 


96  SHORT    TALKS 

want  her  to  have  what  other  fine  ladies 
are  wearing  nowadays  in  the  big  cities, 
and  none  of  them  are  entitled  to  wear 
better  things  than  mother.  Mother  will 
pat  these  stockings,  put  them  up  against 
her  face,  I  reckon,  and  then  after  a  while 
put  them  back  in  the  box  and  lay  them 
in  the  top  bureau  drawer  where  she  can 
take  them  out  now  and  then  and  look  at 
them.  No,  mother  will  never  wear  them 
unless  she  tells  them  to  dress  her  in 
them  when  they  dress  her  for  the  last 
time.  But  you  haven't  got  anything  in 
the  store  that  is  too  good  for  her.  You 
can  wrap  up  these  best  ones,  and  I'll  tell 
you  where  to  send  them.  I'm  greatly 
obliged  to  you,  miss." 

And  Miss  Brennan,  as  she  watched  his 
sturdy,  manly  figure  pass  down  the  aisle, 
turned  her  face  to  her  stock  for  a  mo- 
ment. There  was  a  lump  in  her  throat. 


Salesmanship  is  a  fine  art — as  fine  as 
music,  painting  or  writing — when  you 
make  it  so. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  97 

THE   VALUE   OF  VISION 

You  must  have  vision  if  you  would 
weather  the  world — if  you  would  get  any- 
where. And  you  must  keep  your  eye  on 
that  vision,  just  as  the  children  of  Israel 
watched  the  Cloud  by  day  and  the  Pillar 
of  Fire  by  night  in  journeying  to  the 
Promised  Land. 

"Where  there  is  no  vision  the  people 
perish" — wrote  the  old  prophet  long  ago. 
True  then,  true  now.  There  is  enough, 
if  you  look  down  as  you  plod,  to  damn 
your  hopes  and  cast  you  footsore  and 
weary  by  the  wayside. 

No,  you  can't  reach  the  goal  of  your 
desires  looking  down  or  seeing  only  an 
arm's  length  ahead.  You  can  not  steer 
yourself  straight  by  your  emotions,  any 
more  than  the  pilot  of  an  ocean  liner  can 
steer  by  the  weather.  One  day  all  is 
bright  and  fair.  On  the  next  the  sun 
may  hide  and  the  drizzle  come  down  to 
fill  your  soul  with  foreboding — if  you 
let  it. 

You  must  go  by  faith  rather  than  by 


98  SHORT    TALKS 

feeling.  You  must  let  reason  rule,  and 
steer  by  the  compass  for  the  Golden  Gate 
of  your  dreams. 


Be  informed  on  parcel  post,  how  pack- 
ages may  be  insured,  etc.  In  every  town 
the  post-office  will  give  you,  free  of 
charge,  a  compact  little  pamphlet  giving 
all  this  and  much  more  valuable  infor- 
mation on  postal  matters. 


Shoulder  responsibilities.  Don't  shirk 
them.  Tho  they  may  try  your  soul,  they 
are  your  best  friends.  The  gales  and 
blasts  and  twists  are  the  things  that  make 
the  mountain  oak  sturdy.  Who  would 
be  a  willow? 


It  may  be  hard  to  work  along  for  five 
or  six  dollars  if  you  believe  you  are  worth 
more,  but  don't  forget  the  saying  that 
"He  who  does  no  more  than  he  is  paid 
for  will  never  be  paid  for  any  more  than 
he  does." 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  99 

TALKS    BY    THE    OBSERVER 

The  Observer  was  particularly  imprest 
the  other  day  as  he  watched  the  patient, 
careful  way  in  which  a  railroad  conduc- 
tor explained  something  to  an  emigrant 
woman.  She  was  either  stupid  or  be- 
wildered, possibly  both,  and  she  could 
scarcely  make  herself  understood.  The 
train  was  about  to  move.  Yet  that  con- 
ductor proved  himself  to  be  what  every 
man  serving  the  public  should  be — a  gen- 
tleman. He  reflected  credit  on  himself 
and  on  the  railroad  that  employs  him.  He 
was  a  true  salesman  of  that  railroad's 
service. 

Come  to  think  of  it,  the  Observer  does 
not  believe  he  ever  saw  a  railroad  con- 
ductor who  wasn't  polite  and  always 
ready  to  give  you  any  information  in  his 
possession. 

Salespeople  ought  to  feel  about  repre- 
senting their  employers  just  as  railroad 
conductors  feel  about  representing  theirs. 
Most  anybody  can  be  nice  to  nice  people. 
But  to  be  nice  to  stupid,  odd,  or  exasper- 


100  SHORT    TALKS 

ating  people  —  that's  the  real  test  of  char- 
acter, the  real  trial  of  real  salesmanship. 
Watch  yourself  the  next  time  you  have  to 
meet  this  test! 


It  was  in  the  sweater  department,  and 
the  Observer  was  there  for  the  purpose 
of  buying  sweaters  for  two  little  relatives 
of  his  living  out  in  the  country.  During 
the  transaction,  the  two  young  sales- 
women that  were  at  that  counter  put 
their  heads  together  and  exchanged  some 
comment  that  seemed  to  amuse  both. 
Now  the  Observer  is  too  old  a  hand  at 
running  around  stores  and  picking  up 
points  to  take  offense  at  anything  of  this 
sort;  but  how  foolish  a  thing  this  was! 
What  passed  between  these  two  em- 
ployees may  have  had  nothing  whatever 
to  do  with  the  customer's  taste  in  the 
matter  of  sweaters  or  his  appearance. 
The  whispering  may  have  been  alto- 
gether on  personal  matters.  But  it  was 
not  only  rude  to  the  customer  but  likely 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  101 

to  arouse  suspicion  that  the  comment  re- 
flected in  some  way  on  him.  Even  if  a 
whispered  comment  does  not  seem  to  be 
of  the  amusing  sort,  the  customer  is  apt 
to  think  that  it  has  something  to  do  with 
defects  in  the  goods  or  is  something  else 
that  is  being  withheld  from  him.  The 
conversation  in  the  presence  of  a  cus- 
tomer ought  to  be  frank  and  open.  If 
it  is  necessary  to  speak  privately  to  a  fel- 
low employee,  beg  the  customer's  pardon 
for  the  interruption  and  draw  the  other 
employee  aside  for  as  brief  a  time  as  pos- 
sible. 


Sometimes  a  bit  of  slang  is  very  ex- 
pressive, but  it  is  better  to  use  no  slang 
than  to  use  it  to  excess.  It  gives  a  cus- 
tomer a  poor  impression  of  a  store  when 
salespeople  have  their  talk  filled  up  with 
such  expressions  as  "Bet  your  life/'  "Sure 
thing/'  etc.  This  kind  of  talk  isn't  im- 
pressive or  entertaining,  for  thousands  of 
other  people  use  the  same  expressions.  It 


102  SHORT    TALKS 

is  just  "sloven  talk,"  and  no  form  of 
slovenliness  ever  helps  along  your  selling 
ability.  You  know  what  you  think  when 
some  one  else  talks  to  you  very  "slangily." 
Well  -  ! 


"Better  try  it  on,"  said  the  stickler-for- 
fine-points  salesman  when  the  customer 
said  that  the  garment  would  probably  fit 
all  right;  "then  we  can  be  sure  that  it  is 
right  before  we  send  it."  The  garment 
did  fit  just  as  the  customer  thought,  but 
a  customer  went  out  of  that  store  feeling 
that  the  place  was  one  in  which  the  man- 
agement wanted  everybody  to  have  as 
little  trouble  and  worry  as  possible  about 
goods  bought  there. 

X  X 

Of  course  this  business  of  waiting  on 
customers  and  pleasing  them  is,  with  you, 
just  one  thing,  right  along,  after  another, 
all  day  long  and  all  week  long;  but  did 
it  ever  strike  you  how  differently  the 
customer  looks  at  it?  That  trip  to  the 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  103 

store  or  that  purchase  may  have  been 
planned  for  a  long  time.  Maybe  the  cus- 
tomer is  an  overworked  woman  who  had 
to  do  a  day's  work  and  leave  the  children 
in  a  neighbor's  care  while  she  came  on 
her  important  errand.  Maybe  she  has  a 
"tightwad"  husband  and  must  make 
every  twenty-five  cents  count.  She  is 
human — very  human.  Dissatisfaction 
over  a  purchase  may  mean  real  unhappi- 
ness,  days  of  worry.  Her  grievance  if 
she  is  slighted  or  handled  badly  other- 
wise may  prejudice  her  for  all  time 
against  the  store. 

Maybe  you  are  the  first  salesperson  of 
your  store  who  ever  served  her. 

How  important,  then,  that  you  do 
everything  in  your  power  to  make  that 
transaction  a  satisfying  one,  to  make 
that  shopping  day  a  day  of  real  pleasure. 
You  don't  have  to  preach  or  nurse  or 
visit  the  poor  to  make  people  happy.  Just 
try  to  be  courteous,  painstaking,  patient 
and  kind  in  your  daily  work. 

An  employer  was  calling  up  a  young 


104  SHORT    TALKS 

man's  reference.  "Is  he  an  energetic 
fellow?"  was  his  third  question.  The  an- 
swer that  the  Observer  heard  was  surely 
an  expressive  one:  "He's  a  perfect  shark 
for  work!"  In  other  words,  that  young 
man  just  "eats  up"  work  and  is  always 
looking  for  more.  What  a  fine  recom- 
mendation !  How  rare  that  kind  of  young 
man  is!  How  easy  he  finds  it  to  get 
head  and  shoulders  above  the  crowd  ! 


You  can  be  firm  while  being  polite. 
The  other  day  the  Observer  heard  a 
saleswoman  say  to  an  angry  customer: 
"I  am  exceedingly  sorry,  madam,  but  we 
could  not  do  that,"  and  there  was  genuine 
regret  in  the  tone.  Such  an  answer  often 
proves  to  be  oil  upon  troubled  waters. 
It  is  difficult  for  any  one  to  quarrel  with 
another  who  is  determined  to  be  patient, 
courteous,  and  to  maintain  the  dignity  of 
the  store.  After  it  is  all  over,  there  is 
immense  satisfaction  in  realizing  that  you 
act  as  a  well-bred  person  should. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  105 

THE  APPLE  MAN 

7T  ivasnt  more  than  five  ticks  of  the  watch 
after  I  paused  to  look  °i  his  stock  before  he 
"was  at  my  side,  as  courteous  as  he  was  en- 
thusiastic about  his  apples. 

I  asked  the  price  of  a  basket  of  Kings  and 
the  price  of  a  basket  of  Baldwins. 

"Let  me  deliver  you  a  barrel  of  these,"  he 
suggested,  naming  an  attractive  price.  I  de- 
murred. *TJ  rather  wait"  I  explained;  'TJ 
try  a  basket  of  each  and  see  which  I  like  the 
better."  He  told  me  how  fast  these  good  ap- 
ples were  going,  and  offered  to  make  up  a  mixed 
barrel — three  baskets  of  each  kind,  or  four  of 
one  and  two  of  another — just  as  I  liked. 

Yes,  of  course,  certainly!  He  sold  me  the 
barrel  He  deserved  to.  He  made  the  selling 
of  his  apples  a  fine  art. 


106  SHORT    TALKS 

PASSING  THE  SUGAR 

A  hotel  is  a  place  where  they  sell  food, 
lodging  and  service.  It  is  a  business 
that  can  be  helped  about  as  quickly  by 
good  salesmanship  methods  and  hurt 
about  as  badly  by  poor  salesmanship  as 
any  establishment  that  could  be  men- 
tioned. In  a  dining-room  not  so  very 
long  ago  the  Observer  saw  this  happen. 
A  waiter  wanted  a  sugar-bowl  and  he 
darted  over  to  a  table  where  sat  a  guest 
alone  and  snatched  the  bowl  off  from 
under  this  guest's  nose  without  so  much 
as  a  "By  your  leave."  A  few  days  later, 
the  Observer  saw  another  waiter  in  an- 
other hotel  hard  prest  for  a  bowl  of 
sugar.  He,  too,  went  to  a  table  where  a 
single  guest  had  a  bowl  in  front  of  him. 
With  a  bow  that  would  have  done  credit 
to  a  Frenchman,  the  waiter  presented  the 
bowl  to  this  guest  and  asked  him  if  he 
would  have  sugar.  Then  he,  with  good 
grace,  was  able  to  take  the  bowl  away. 

It  was  just  one  more  of  a  thousand 
instances  of  what  a  little  difference  there 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING 

usually  is  between  the  right  way  and  the 
wrong  way  of  doing  a  thing.  What  the 
second  waiter  did  was  almost  as  easy  to 
do  as  what  the  first  waiter  did,  but  the 
last  man  had  the  consciousness  of  having 
done  his  work  as  a  well-trained  hotel 
salesman  should  do  it,  while  the  first  man 
bungled  badly  and  sadly. 

THE  ART  OF  FORGETTING 

I  remember  an  occasion  when  I  gave 
utterance  to  a  narrow-minded,  unworthy 
opinion  while  talking  with  a  man  that  I 
then  knew  only  slightly.  The  words 
were  hardly  out  of  my  mouth  before  I 
regretted  them.  He  said  nothing — just 
looked  at  me.  His  silence  was  impene- 
trable. It  disarmed  and  rebuked  me. 

For  days  and  weeks  I  thought  about 
it,  and  then  one  day  when  I  had  a  chance 
I  said  to  this  man  that  I  hoped  he  would 
excuse  my  folly.  He  declared — bless  his 
heart — that  if  I  had  said  anything  of  the 
sort  he  had  forgotten  it.  I  believed  him. 
When  I  knew  him  better  I  learned  that 


108  SHORT    TALKS 

while  he  had  his  full  share  of  patience 
and  temper-trying  things,  disappoint- 
ments, and  so  on,  he  had  the  happy 
faculty  of  keeping  his  mind  off  them — of 
forgetting  them  and  going  on — when  it 
no  longer  did  any  good  to  think  about 
the  unpleasant  things.  He  saved  the 
powers  of  his  mind  for  the  things  that 
were  worth  while,  and  to-day  he  is  a 
$10,000  man! 

But  you  know,  and  I  know,  folks  very 
close  at  home  who  for  years  will  keep 
fresh  in  their  memories  little  differences 
of  opinion,  discourtesies,  injustices,  losses, 
misfortunes,  and  so  on — people  who 
allow  their  minds  to  fill  up  with  these 
morbid  weeds  when  they  need  all  of  their 
concentrative  powers  for  the  things  that 
are  at  hand  and  that  are  to  come,  rather 
than  for  the  mistakes  ills,  and  wrongs 
of  the  past 

"What  do  you  think?"  said  a  depart- 
ment head  of  a  big  concern  some  time 
ago  as  he  rushed  into  the  office  of  a 
fellow-worker,  "So-and-so  said  to  me 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  109 

just  now "  and  on  he  went,  relating 

how  a  prominent  man  in  the  company 
had  just  given  expression  to  a  rather 
harsh  criticism  that  had  hurt  the  feelings 
of  Mr.  Sensitive  Man.  And  Mr.  Sensi- 
tive Man  wound  up  his  recital  with, 
"What  would  you  do  about  it?" 

"Aw,  forget  it,"  said  the  other,  "Smile 
at  him  to-morrow  as  if  he  hadn't  said 
it.  You  are  not  going  to  let  a  little 
thing  like  that  'ball  you  all  up/  are  you?" 

Forget  it — that's  it.  A  sure  way  to 
have  a  hard  time  in  life  is  to  keep  think- 
ing about  the  unpleasant  things. 

Time  is  a  great  healer.  We  hear  much 
about  the  blessedness  of  a  good  memory; 
but,  valuable  as  a  good  memory  is,  often 
it  is  more  blest  to  have  a  good  "for- 
gettery." 


Thoroughness  is  a  habit.  If  you  are 
not  doing  thorough  work  where  you  are, 
don't  deceive  yourself  into  thinking  that 
you  will  do  it  elsewhere. 


110        SHORT  TALKS 

TALKS  BY  THE  OBSERVER 

Said  a  friend  of  the  Observer:  "I 

went  into  the  L Store  for  the  first 

time  to-day." 

"What  did  you  think  of  the  sales  serv- 
ice ?"  queried  the  Observer.  You  see,  the 
Observer  believes  that  the  salespeople  do 
more  to  make  a  store  than  the  store- 
building,  its  location,  the  windows,  the 
advertising  or  even  the  goods  themselves. 
Nathaniel  Fowler,  Jr.,  once  said  to  a 
group  of  merchants  that  they  could  never 
hope  to  have  a  monopoly  so  far  as  the 
goods  they  carried  were  concerned.  He 
pointed  out  that  other  merchants  could 
buy  the  same,  or  very  nearly  the  same 
goods,  but  when  it  came  to  the  service  of 
the  store,  that  was  something  that  a  mer- 
chant could  build  up  without  fear  that 
others  could  offer  the  same  thing.  He 
went  on  to  say  that  what  drew  people  to 
a  store  more  than  anything  else  was 
its  "atmosphere,"  its  individuality.  Mr. 
Fowler  was  exactly  right.  And  the  in- 
dividuality of  a  store  is  only  the  com- 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  111 

bined  individuality  of  the  people  in  it — 
nothing  more.  A  store  is  not  just  a  big 
building  full  of  goods  for  sale.  Far  from 
it.  It  is  a  place  of  "exchange,"  where 
people  come  with  their  money  to  look  at 
the  beautiful  and  useful  things  of  the 
world  and  to  learn  about  them,  to  be 
served  well  by  salespeople,  so  that  they 
go  away  happier  because  of  the  way  they 
have  exchanged  their  money  for  mer- 
chandise. 

But  to  go  back  to  the  first  trip  of  the 

Observer's    acquaintance    to    the    L 

Store.  Replying  to  the  question,  she 
said :  "I  was  very  favorably  imprest  with 
their  service.  I  went  in  for  only  a  little 
thing  but  I  got  just  what  I  wanted.  The 
saleswoman  after  learning  that  I  wanted 
yarn  of  a  certain  kind  carefully  selected 
three  kinds,  all  of  which  were  close  to 
what  I  had  asked  for.  She  put  these 
before  me  and  seeing  that  I  wanted  a 
moment  for  inspection,  turned  away  to 
speak  pleasantly  to  another  customer. 
After  a  while,  she  asked  if  I  saw  just 


SHORT    TALKS 

what  I  wanted.  There  wasn't  much  to 
what  she  did,  but  it  shows  that  there  is 
a  good  deal  of  art  in  selling  even  such  a 
little  thing  as  a  hank  of  yarn." 

It  means  a  lot  for  the  L  -  Store  to 
have  this  customer  go  away  the  first  time 
with  pleasant  impressions  of  the  service. 
Naturally,  the  customer  has  taken  the 
individuality  of  the  competent  sales- 
woman as  the  individuality  of  the,  store. 

Really,  truly,  honestly,  now  —  do  most 
customers  take  an  impression  from  your 
individuality  that  makes  them  think  very 
favorably  of  your  store? 


Do  you  ever  lose  your  temper! 

The  head  of  a  shoe  section  did  so  the 
other  day  —  lost  in  a  discussion  with  a 
customer,  a  lady  at  that,  and  the  result 
was  a  most  unfortunate  scene.  The  lady 
had  brought  back  a  pair  of  shoes  that 
had  gone  to  pieces  quickly  —  too  quickly, 
she  thought,  considering  the  price.  No- 
body knows  exactly  who  was  right,  but 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  113 

the  customer  looked  like  a  frank,  honest 
person.  Something  must  have  already 
put  the  salesman  out  of  sorts,  for  he 
disputed  the  customer's  word  almost  the 
first  thing — told  her  she  ought  not  to 
make  statements  about  things  she  knew 
little  about.  Whew !  That  started  some- 
thing. And  the  lady,  after  more  than 
holding  her  own,  threw  the  shoes  down 
and  left  the  store.  The  upshot  was  that 
the  shoes  were  repaired  and  returned  to 
her — as  would  have  been  done  anyhow — 
but  she  will  probably  never  go  back  to 
that  store  again  for  shoes. 

It  is  not  salesmanship  to  get  into  angry 
discussions  and  disputes  with  customers. 
Of  course,  all  salesmen  have  to  deal 
sometimes  with  unreasonable  and  even 
dishonest  people,  but  the  good  salesman 
knows  that  it  is  his  part  to  be  dignified 
and  cool  and  reasonable. 

If  at  any  time  anything  the  store  sold 
has  been  unsatisfactory,  you  are  genuine- 
ly sorry,  and  you  should  show  that  you 
are.  If  you  haven't  authority  to  make 


114  SHORT    TALKS 

things   satisfactory,   take   the  matter   to 
those  who  have  the  authority. 

X  * 

One  of  the  best  salesmen  that  the  Ob- 
server ever  observed  was  a  man  who 
seemed  to  show  goods  and  talk  about 
them  just  for  the  love  of  it.  He  seemed 
deeply  interested  in  every  new  lot  of 
merchandise  that  came  into  his  store,  and 
he  knew  the  goods,  too — knew  all  the 
little  fine  points  of  difference.  When  he 
wanted  to  show  a  customer  something  he 
did  not  announce  that,  or  show  the  goods 
with  an  air  of  trying  to  induce  the 
customer  to  buy.  But  the  interesting 
part  of  his  work  was  that  when  he  showed 
you  goods  and  told  you  about  them  in 
that  honest  way  of  his,  you  often  dis- 
covered that  you  really  wanted  one  of 
those  articles. 

In  other  words,  this  salesman  let  the 
customer  "sell  himself/'  and  the  man  who 
understands  how  to  do  that  has  the  art  of 
selling  down  fine. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  115 


SHOW  THE  GOODS 

JJfHEN  properly  shown,  your  goods 
"ta/£"  as  no  salesperson  can. 

There  may  be  reasons  why  the  store  wishes 
to  have  this  or  that  pushed,  but  when  the  cus- 
tomer indicates  interest  in  something  else,  show 
it  immediately  and  willingly. 

Nothing  vexes  a  customer  more  quickly  than 
slowness  or  unwillingness  to  show  something  in 
the  case  or  elsewhere  that  has  attracted  the  at- 
tention. 

Do  not  guess  that  it  wont  suit  the  cus- 
tomer, or  that  the  price  is  out  of  reach.  The 
customer  is  the  proper  judge  of  that. 

Goods  shown  quickly,  graciously,  and  intel- 
ligently frequently  sell  themselves. 


116  SHORT    TALES 

HOLDING  THE  NEW  CUSTOMER 

"Haven't  you  a  small  can  of  this  darker 
green  paint?"  queried  the  customer,  as 
the  young  man  behind  the  counter  peered 
around  the  rows  of  paint  cans.  "I'm 
afraid,  sir,  that  we  haven't  a  single  small 
can  of  the  dark  green  in  stock,"  he  replied ; 
"couldn't  you  make  use  of  the  larger 
can?" 

The  customer  shook  his  head  and 
started  away  regretfully,  for  he  was  al- 
ready late  for  the  office  and  didn't  want 
to  try  another  store.  Besides,  it  was  his 
first  visit  to  this  store. 

"Wait,  please."  The  young  man  had 
a  sudden  idea.  "The  expressman  has 
just  been  here,  and  maybe  he  brought 
that  special  order  we  sent  in  the  other 
day.  Yes,  here  it  is" — and  "whack, 
whack,  whack"  went  the  nail-puller  on 
the  box.  In  a  jiffy,  both  the  salesman 
and  the  customer  were  smiling  over  the 
exchange  of  a  25-cent-size  can  of  the 
dark  green  paint  for  a  nice,  shiny  quarter. 
They  were  smiling  because  each,  down 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  117 

in  his  heart,  was  saying,  "This  is  sales- 
manship." 

LEARNING  THE  CUSTOMER'S  NEEDS 
It  was  in  the  toy  section,  and  the  cus- 
tomer wanted  a  doll.  "Do  you  want 
something  for  a  boy  or  a  girl?"  was  the 
first  question  the  bright-eyed  salesgirl 
asked,  and  it  was  a  corking  good  ques- 
tion. "And  how  old  is  the  little  girl?" 
was  her  next.  Learning  that  the  age 
was  two  years,  she  led  the  way  to  the 
case  of  "unbreakables."  Maybe  this  is 
the  regular  way  of  selling  dolls  and  may- 
be this  particular  salesgirl  was  doing 
nothing  more  than  they  usually  do  in 
toy  sections,  but  anyhow  the  Observer 
takes  occasion  to  remark  that  if  this  is 
all  true  the  doll  stores  have  most  other 
stores  beat  a  long  way  in  getting  directly 
and  agreeably  at  the  customer's  needs. 


Never  mind  about  the  regular  way  of 
doing  things  if  you  can  find  a  better  way. 


118  SHORT    TALKS 

THE  RIGHT  WAY  AND  THE  WRONG 
WAY 

"Can  you  deliver  it  this  afternoon?" 
asked  a  customer  in  a  certain  store. 

"Certainly  not/'  was  the  blunt  reply. 

What  a  difference  there  would  have 
been  had  the  salesman  (?)  said:  "I  am 
sorry,  madam,  but  it  wouldn't  be  possible 
for  us  to  do  that.  If  we  delivered  early 
Monday,  wouldn't  that  do?" 

X  X 

She  saw  the  customer's  name  began 
with  H,  and  what  do  you  suppose  she 
did? 

She  brought  out  some  of  a  new  lot  of 
initialed  towels,  showing,  of  course,  those 
with  the  letter  H  on  them. 

Did  the  customer  buy?  Indeed  she  did. 
She  hadn't  said  anything  about  towels, 

either. 

X  x 

But,  alas,  in  the  very  same  store  the 
following  happened:  A  timid-looking 
little  woman  asked  for  a  sample  of  dress- 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  119 

goods,  and  the  saleswoman  said:  "Better 
buy  your  dress  now.  The  goods  will 
probably  be  all  gone  by  the  time  you  get 
back."  This  crude  and  repelling  advice 
would  have  been  all  right  with  a  little 
change:  "If  you  like  this  piece,  madam, 
I  advise  you  to  buy  now  or  very  soon, 
because  we  are  selling  these  goods  very 
rapidly." 


"Yesterday  is  yesterday,  to-day  is  to- 
day, and  to-morrow  will  be  another  day," 
writes  the  novelist.  What  matters  it  that 
yesterday  was  wrong?  Don't  fret  over 
it.  Don't  let  it  drain  your  energy.  Don't 
let  your  soul  fill  up  with  fears  about  the 
future.  Just  live  one  day  at  a  time, 
planning  and  working  to  make  that  day 
right. 


David  Graham  Phillips  said:  "I  must, 
myself,  promote  myself,  for  in  this  world 
all  promotion  that  is  solid  comes  from 
within." 


120        SHORT  TALKS 

TALKS  BY  THE  OBSERVER 

It  happened  in  a  sporting-goods  shop, 
but  it  might  have  happened  in  the  sport- 
ing-goods section  of  some  big  store — or 
in  any  section  of  any  store,  for  that 
matter. 

A  customer,  whose  trade  was  well 
worth  guarding,  wanted  a  canoe.  The 
kind  he  sought  was  not  in  stock  and  had 
to  be  ordered  specially.  The  manufac- 
turer made  two  grades  of  boats  in  the 
size  that  the  customer  wanted,  an  "Ai" 
grade  and  a  "No.  2"  grade.  The  prin- 
cipal difference  seemed  to  be  that  in  the 
"No.  2"  grade  the  planking  where  it 
showed  inside  the  boat  was  likely  to  have 
a  few  knots,  dark  places,  and  other  slight 
imperfections,  and  the  gunwales  were  of 
plain  spruce;  whereas  in  the  better  boat, 
the  gunwales  were  of  mahogany  and  in 
one  piece.  After  consideration,  the  cus- 
tomer decided  that  the  "Ai"  boat  was 
well  worth  the  eight  dollars  difference  in 
price.  He  was  buying  the  boat  largely 
for  appearance  and  wanted  everything 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING 


about  it  to  look  as  trim  as  possible.  But, 
alas!  something  occurred  that  happens 
too  often.  The  salesman  trusted  to 
memory,  and  when  he  made  out  the  order 
blank  he  specified  the  "No.  2"  grade  of 
boat.  After  a  three  weeks'  wait  the  cus- 
tomer was  notified  to  call  —  his  boat  had 
arrived. 

He  came  around  as  full  of  enthusiasm 
as  a  fourteen-year-old  boy.  Most  people, 
after  all,  are  only  grown-up  children. 
Imagine  his  feelings  when  he  saw  a 
canoe  with  a  cheap-looking  white  gun- 
wale made  in  two  sections!  Up  to  that 
time  the  salesman  had  not  seemed  to  be 
aware  that  he  had  blundered;  but  he  was 
not  long  in  finding  it  out,  for  the  cus- 
tomer gave  expression  to  his  disappoint- 
ment in  no  uncertain  manner.  He  had 
waited  three  weeks  for  a  special  boat, 
and  the  result  was  the  very  thing  he  had 
tried  to  guard  against  —  cheap  appearance 
—  and  all  through  carelessness  in  taking 
an  order. 

In  what  a  position  the  store  was  placed  ! 


SHORT    TALKS 

There  were  three  things  to  do:  First, 
order  a  new  boat,  according  to  the  cus- 
tomer's wishes;  but  this  would  take 
three  weeks  more  and  the  second  wait 
would  increase  the  customer's  wrath. 
Second,  refund  the  amount  paid  in  ad- 
vance and  call  off  the  sale ;  but  such  action 
would  leave  the  customer  unmollified. 
Third,  let  the  customer  take  the  boat  he 
didn't  like  but  this  would  result  only  in 
aggrieving  him  further. 

There  was,  however,  one  thing  that 
might  have  eased  up  the  situation.  Had 
the  salesman  acknowledged  his  mistake 
and  seemed  genuinely  sorry,  the  customer, 
tho  exasperated,  probably  would  have 
overlooked  the  error.  But  Mr.  Salesman 
wasn't  quite  big  enough  to  acknowledge 
his  mistake  and  try  to  square  himself. 
He  admitted  reluctantly  that  he,  himself, 
had  advised  paying  the  extra  eight  dol- 
lars and  ordering  the  "Ai"  canoe;  but  at 
the  same  time  he  endeavored  to  argue  the 
customer  into  thinking  that  the  canoe  on 
hand  was  really  all  right,  after  all.  The 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING 

customer  was  in  no  humor  to  be  con- 
vinced. Finally,  he  walked  out  of  the 
store  apparently  undecided.  Afterward 
he  telephoned  that  while  he  would  take  the 
canoe,  he  did  not  care  much  now  whether 
he  bought  a  boat  at  all. 

The  result  of  the  transaction  is  a  cus- 
tomer who  is  nursing  a  grievance  and 
who  is  likely  not  only  to  turn  his  trade 
elsewhere  but  to  give  the  store  a  bad 
name  among  his  close  acquaintances. 

When  customers  are  disappointed,  the 
salesman  should  at  least  be  able  to  feel 
that  nothing  that  he  could  have  done  to 
insure  satisfaction  has  been  left  undone. 


Criticism  may  hurt,  but  you  will  show 
your  good  sense  by  always  receiving  it 
properly.  It  will  do  you  good  sometimes 
to  say,  "That  was  stupid  (or  careless)  of 
me,  and  I  will  guard  against  such  work 
in  the  future."  Remember  that  those 
who  do  the  criticizing  have  no  agreeable 
job;  but  they  are  expected  to  do  their 
duty. 


SHORT    TALKS 

ABOVE  THE  CROWD 

r  i  'O  be  a  little  more  courteous  than  is  neces- 
•*    sari; — 

To  pay  a  little  stricter  attention  than  most 
people  do  and  consequently  be  a  little  more  ac- 
curate than  they  are — 

To  be  a  little  better  informed  than  "the  aver- 
age"— 

To  rvork  a  little  harder  and  a  little  more  t»ill- 
ingly  than  "the  bunch" — 

To  be  neat,  modest,  and  yet  confident  and 
aggressive — 

To  keep  the  mind  on  clean,  useful  thoughts — 
To  spend  a  little  less  than  is  earned — 
To  be  happy  and  yet  never  self-satisfied — 
Summed  up,  it  all  means  being  the  rare  per- 
son r»ho  not  only  gives  most  but  gets  most  out 
of  the  "job"  and  out  of  life. 

For  such  people  the  latch-string  of  oppor- 
tunity hangs  out  at  many  doors. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING 

CAN  YOU  USE  SUGGESTION? 

You  don't  have  to  study  psychology  in 
order  to  understand  that  thing  that  we 
call  suggestion,  which  is  such  a  powerful 
aid  in  selling  goods. 

Suggestion  is  the  saying  or  doing  of 
things  that  will  start  other  people's  minds 
moving  in  the  direction  that  you  want 
them  to  move.  It  means  helping  people 
to  think  things  out  for  themselves.  Most 
people,  you  know,  rather  resent  being 
driven  to  a  decision.  You  must  lead, 
rather  than  drive. 

Remember  the  story  of  the  bootblacks. 
One  shouted  "Shoes  Shined  Here."  The 
other  called  out  "Get  Your  Sunday 
Shine."  The  second  fellow  did  consider- 
ably more  business,  because  he  started 
men  to  thinking  about  their  Sunday 
needs. 

When  you  say  to  a  customer,  "Where 
shall  we  send  this?"  you  turn  her 
thoughts  toward  sending  and  rarely  will 
she  volunteer  to  take  the  package  along. 

If  you  say,  "Will  you  take  this  with 


126  SHORT    TALKS 

you?"  you  turn  her  thoughts  toward 
taking,  altho  you  leave  her  free  to  direct 
that  the  package  be  sent  'if  she  prefers 
that.  But  experience  shows  that  this 
little  difference  in  phraseology  saves  a 
great  deal  of  time  and  labor  during  busy 
seasons. 

"These  colors  are  very  becoming  to 
people  of  fair  complexions."  In  saying 
this,  you  do  not  say  that  the  thing  is  just 
what  the  customer  before  you  needs. 
That  would  be  presumptuous,  as  a  rule. 
But  there  is  in  this  comment  a  suggestion 
to  the  effect  that  the  customer  is  of  fair 
complexion  and  that  if  the  goods  are  be- 
coming to  other  people  of  fair  complex- 
ions, they  will  be  becoming  to  her. 

"These  sell  so  fast  that  we  can  hardly 
keep  them  in  stock."  When  you  say  it, 
you  may  be  thinking  that  right  here  is 
the  point  where  the  customer  will  do  well 
to  stop  looking  and  to  buy,  but  you  can't 
come  right  out  with  that.  The  more 
suggestive  remark  will  cause  the  cus- 
tomer to  think  the  thing  out. 


ON   RETAIL    SELLING  127 

People  like  to  feel  that  they  came  to 
their  own  conclusions.  Every  clever 
salesperson  knows  this  and  uses  sugges- 
tion to  start  and  lead  thoughts. 


Never  forget  it — write  it  fresh  on  the 
tablet  of  your  mind  every  morning — that 
courtesy  is  one  of  the  keys  to  success,  and 
that  every  one  who  wants  the  gift  of 
courtesy  can  have  it  by  just  reaching  out 
for  it  and  holding  on  to  it. 


You  will  never  have  room  in  your  mind 
for  big  thoughts  if  you  allow  the  space 
there  to  be  filled  with  rubbish. 


A  New  England  store  has  just  passed 
a  rule  as  to  "onion  breath"  and  strong 
perfumery.  Can  you  blame  the  bosses? 


A  customer  in  the  store  is  worth  two 
on  the  street.  Make  thoughtful  sugges- 
tions to  him  or  to  her  and  watch  your 
sales-total  grow. 


128  SHORT    TALKS 

TALKS  BY  THE  OBSERVER 

Says  an  acquaintance  of  the  Observer: 
"I  certainly  was  pleased  by  something 
that  happened  in  the  Martinique  Hotel, 
New  York,  on  my  recent  trip  there.  I 
haven't  stopt  at  the  Martinique  often, 
and  the  last  time  I  was  there  before  this 
trip  was  about  three  months  ago.  But 
no  sooner  had  I  stept  up  to  the  room 
clerk  than  he  asked,  'Mr.  Brown,  would 
you  like  to  have  Room  633  again?'  I'll 
be  blest  if  that  fellow  wasn't  on  to  his 
job  well  enough  not  only  to  keep  tab  on 
my  name  but  on  the  room  I  had  before. 
I  take  off  my  hat  to  his  fine  work." 

Such  work  is  fine  work,  and  it  is  just 
as  important  in  the  store  as  in  a  hotel. 
Remembering  the  names  of  people  and 
remembering  the  kind  of  things  they  are 
interested  in  is  a  tremendous  aid  to  your 
salesmanship.  And  it  is  just  a  matter 
of  habit.  Surely  if  the  negro  hat-man  in 
a  hotel  can  remember  the  owners  of  fifty 
hats  without  any  checks  to  help  him,  you 
can  remember  many  of  the  people  who 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  129 

buy  goods  in  your  section.  At  any  rate, 
if  you  can't  remember  a  customer's  name, 
don't  say,  as  so  many  salespeople  do,  "Do 
you  see  what  you  want,  mister?"  or  "Do 
you  see  what  you  want,  ma'am?"  "Sir" 
and  "madam"  are  the  proper  terms  to  use 
if  you  can  not  recall  the  name. 

The  hotels,  by  the  way,  afford  some 
very  live  lessons  to  retail  stores.  It  would 
be  a  fine  thing  if  every  reader  of  this 
book  could  have  three  tracts  printed  by 
Mr.  Statler,  of  the  Statler  Hotel,  Buffalo, 
for  the  benefit  of  his  employes.  Here  is 
a  sample  of  Mr.  Statler's  common-sense 
talk:  "There  is  one  privilege  that  no 
Statler  employee  has  and  that  is  the  privi- 
lege of  arguing  with  a  guest.  You  must 
not  say  that  the  meat  is  well  done  when 
the  guest  says  that  it  is  rare,  or  that  the 
ice-water  was  carried  up  when  the  guest 
asserts  that  it  was  not.  There  is  just 
one  thing  that  a  hotel  has  for  sale  and 
that  thing  is  service.  The  guest  pays  for 
service.  He  pays  your  salary  and  mine. 
It  is  possible  for  a  doorman  to  so  swing 


130  SHORT    TALKS 

the  door  as  to  make  the  guest  feel  that 
this  is  his  hotel  ;  and  it  is  possible,  too,  for 
him  to  so  sling  the  door  as  to  make  the 
guest  think  that  he  will  find  a  rusty  pen 
stuck  in  a  potato  when  he  gets  to  the 
desk." 

It  is  a  great  thought,  Mr.  Statler  —  this 
idea  of  having  everybody  serve  the  visi- 
tor so  well  that  he  will  think  of  our  place 
of  business  as  his  hotel  or  his  store.  It 
is  something  in  which  everybody  from  the 
doorman  and  the  errand  boy  up  to  the 
heads  of  the  business  have  to  help  in 
order  to  get  perfect  team  work. 


This  happened  to  Mrs.  Observer.  She 
was  very  anxious  to  have  something 
about  the  house  fixt  up,  and  the  firm  that 
promised  to  attend  to  the  matter  finally 
said  over  the  telephone  that  the  job  was 
such  a  little  thing  they  did  not  believe 
they  would  be  able  to  attend  to  it. 

Little  thing  !  If  this  firm  only  knew  it, 
the  big  successes  of  life  are  made  up  of 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  131 

the  little  things  done  well.  By  the  way 
that  a  store  does  the  little  things  the 
public  judges  how  it  will  likely  do  the 
bigger  things.  It  is  worth  a  great  deal 
to  a  store  to  have  its  bundles  tied  a  little 
better  than  the  ordinary,  to  have  its  de- 
liveries a  little  more  prompt,  to  have  a 
little  more  accuracy  in  charges  and  in 
addressing  than  is  the  rule,  to  have  people 
in  the  store  that  are  a  little  more  pleasant 
and  a  little  better  informed  about  their 
merchandise  than  "ordinary  salespeople." 


It  wasn't  his  fault  that  the  order  had 
been  delayed.  In  fact,  he  didn't  have 
anything  to  do  with  it,  but  when  the  cus- 
tomer made  the  wire  hot  with  his  opinion 
of  a  house  that  couldn't  give  any  better 
service,  he  didn't  blurt  back  angrily  that 
he  wasn't  to  blame  and  that  the  customer 
should  get  the  other  fellow  on  the  wire. 
No,  he  was  too  good  a  salesman  for  that, 
and  some  of  these  days  the  Observer 
thinks  he'll  be  found  owning  a  business. 


132  SHORT    TALES 

He  let  the  customer  have  his  say,  and 
then  so  patiently  and  with  a  voice  full  of 
genuine  regret  he  assured  the  customer 
of  the  firm's  desire  to  have  everything 
right  —  said  the  matter  would  be  attended 
to  immediately,  and  so  on.  He  soothed 
the  irate  complainer;  he  saved  the  store 
a  customer.  Sometimes  this  is  hard  to 
do,  but  it  is  salesmanship. 


"But  that  is  a  $6  hat/7  said  the  sales- 
man. 

"I  can  pay  $6  if  I  like  the  hat,"  replied 
the  customer  smilingly,  and  then  the 
salesman  felt  exceedingly  cheap.  It  was 
just  a  slip  of  speech,  no  doubt.  What 
the  salesman  probably  meant  to  say  was, 
"Certainly  you  may  look  at  that.  It  is 
one  of  our  $6  hats  and  well  worth  the 
money." 

It  is  never  good  salesmanship  to  hint, 
by  word  or  tone,  that  the  article  that  has 
caught  the  customer's  eye  is  too  expen- 
sive for  him  or  her  to  purchase.  Show 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  133 

the  goods,  drop  information  about  price 
casually  and  tactfully,  and  let  the  cus- 
tomer decide  as  to  whether  the  price  is 
within  reach. 

LET  THE  CUSTOMER  TALK  SOME 

In  an  office  the  other  day  a  big  sales- 
man was  trying  to  sell  something  to  a 
prospect  whom  he  had  cornered.  He — 
the  salesman — was  making  that  out- 
rageous, inexcusable  mistake  of  monopo- 
lizing the  conversation.  He  started  in  as 
if  he  had  been  wound  up,  and  so  en- 
grossed was  he  in  his  own  performance 
that  he  evidently  didn't  see  what  others 
saw — that  the  man  he  was  talking  to  was 
bored.  Now  and  then  the  prospect, 
jumping  at  an  apparent  lull  in  the  stream 
of  words,  would  start  to  say  something, 
but  the  salesman  merely  raised  his  voice 
a  little  so  as  to  drown  the  other  man's 
remarks  and  went  on. 

It  was  getting  laughable  when  the 
prospect's  face  suddenly  got  an  angry  red 
after  one  more  ineffectual  effort  to  get 


134  SHORT    TALKS 

into  the  conversation.  "Wait,  wait/'  said 
he,  and  he  doubled  up  his  fist  and  shook 
it  in  the  salesman's  face,  until  Mr.  Wind- 
bag slowed  up.  "I  never  could,  in  all 
my  life,  talk  while  anybody  else  was  talk- 
ing and  maybe  you  can't  either.  I'll  make 
a  bargain  with  you.  You  can  talk  a 
minute,  and  then  you  are  to  shut  up  like 
a  clam  and  I'll  take  a  minute.  How  will 
that  suit  you?" 

No,  the  salesman  didn't  sell  anything. 
He  couldn't  have  sold  that  prospect  a 
thousand-dollar  lot  for  five  hundred  dol- 
lars. This  was  an  extreme  case,  but  a 
great  many  salespeople  are  guilty  of  the 
rudeness  of  breaking  in  on  the  conver- 
sation of  other  people,  of  not  waiting 
until  the  proper  time  to  get  into  the  dis- 
cussion. 


Don't  pronounce  "again"  as  if  the  last 
syllable  were  "gain."  Pronounce  the 
word  as  if  it  were  spelled  "a-gen,"  put- 
ting the  accent  on  the  final  syllable. 


ON   RETAIL    SELLING  135 


THE  REWARD  OF  SERVICE 

"/  gladly  wait  for  Miss  B .  She 

is  so  helpful  and  obliging." 


A  CUSTOMER  said  just  that  of  a  certain 
'**•  saleswoman — a  woman  who  long  ago  saw 
that  salesmanship  is  a  fine  art  and  who  takes 
pride  in  being  an  artist  at  her  worfy. 

There  are  a  few  li^e  this  saleswoman,  but  not 
enough.  The  stores  of  the  country  need  hun- 
dreds— are  crying  out  for  them. 

Such  salespeople  mafa  better  business,  better 
wages,  better  living. 

Help  the  store  and  help  yourself  by  making 
a  fine  art  of  your  wort?.  It  pays — in  money  and 
other  ways. 


136        SHORT  TALKS 

SHOW  THE  BETTER  GOODS 

Most  shoppers  have  a  little  margin  be- 
yond the  price  that  they  may  name  as 
what  they  have  thought  of  paying.  So 
don't  be  afraid  to  show  the  better  class  of 
goods.  After  all,  it  is  a  compliment  to 
the  shopper  for  you  to  suggest,  even  by 
showing  the  better  article,  that  he  or  she 
is  able  to  pay  the  higher  price.  Gener- 
ally speaking,  the  adage  that  "the  recol- 
lection of  quality  remains  long  after  the 
price  is  forgotten"  is  sound.  There'  are 
stores  who  encourage  salespeople  to 
put  forth  the  higher-priced  goods  and 
who  find  that  people  accustomed  to  buy- 
ing cheaper  grades  are  very  often  much 
pleased  when  they  have  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  try  better  goods.  For  that 
matter,  statistics  show  that  people  are 
buying  better  things.  Rural  customers 
are  buying  cloaks,  dresses,  stockings,  etc., 
at  double  the  prices  they  were  willing  to 
pay  a  decade  ago. 


The  great  thing  is  to  think  right. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  137 

APPEALING  TO  THE  HEART 

Don't  forget  how  far  love  or  senti- 
ment moves  people  to  buy  goods.  Such 
a  remark  as  "Have  you  a  small  boy?  He 
would  be  tickled  to  have  one  of  these/'  or 
"This  rug  would  delight  your  wife,"  are 
likely  to  strike  home  and  induce  pur- 
chases that  otherwise  would  not  be 
thought  of. 

It  is  a  real  salesman's  business  to  study 
people  and  to  make  such  suggestions. 
Storepeople  who  merely  sell  what  cus- 
tomers come  in  and  insist  on  buying  are 
just  order-takers. 

CONCENTRATION 

A  Chinese  girl  studying  at  one  of  the 
American  colleges  has  the  ability  to  con- 
centrate down  so  tensely  that  when  she 
must  stop  studying  a  certain  subject  at 
nine  o'clock,  we  will  say,  in  order  to  keep 
some  other  engagement,  she  finds  it  ne- 
cessary to  set  an  alarm  clock  on  her  desk 
arranged  to  signal  at  nine.  She  has 
trained  herself,  as  is  the  Chinese  custom, 


138  SHORT    TALKS 

to  give  herself  entirely  to  the  subject 
under  consideration.  Possibly  the  Chin- 
ese go  to  extremes  in  this  matter,  but 
they  are  more  fortunate  at  any  rate  than 
those  unfortunate  folks  who  have  allowed 
themselves  to  develop  such  a  habit  of 
giving  "scattered  attention"  that  they  can 
never  settle  down  effectively  on  anything. 
Good  work  requires  thorough  attention. 
You  can't  do  justice  to  one  undertaking 
with  your  mind  on  another. 

Genius,  said  Helvetius,  a  French  phil- 
osopher, is  only  concentration.  Take  a 
lesson  from  the  Chinese.  When  you  are 
giving  attention  to  any  work,  give  real 
attention;  put  all  your  mind  on  it. 

DON'T  SAY 

Don't  say  "A  certain  party  was  here." 
"Person,"  "customer,"  "caller,"  and  a 
dozen  other  words  are  in  better  taste 
than  "party,"  and  "certain"  isn't  needed. 

Don't  say,  "They  learned  it  to  him." 
Say  "They  taught  it  to  him,"  or  "He 
learned  it  from  them." 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  139 

Don't   say,    "Can    I    show   you  one?" 
Say,  "May  I  show  you  one?" 

Don't   say,    "You   was."      Say,  "You 


were." 


Don't  say,  "If  I  was  able."  Say  "If  I 
were  able." 

Don't  say,  "We  would  of."  Say  "We 
would  have." 


Careful,  sympathetic,  undivided  atten- 
tion to  what  the  customer  says  is  the 
highest  form  of  courtesy.  It  commands 
the  customer's  confidence.  It  gives  you 
pointers  on  what  goods  to  show.  It  de- 
velops thoroughness. 


Just  suppose  that  two-thirds  of  your 
idle  moments  were  devoted  to  learning 
all  about  your  stock.  You'd  be  a  wonder ! 


Know  your  goods  thoroughly,  study 
people  constantly;  be  earnest,  honest,  and 
courteous — there  isn't  much  else  to  this 
thing  we  call  salesmanship. 


140  SHORT    TALKS 


THAT  OTHER  JOB 

-x>  -v> 

\FOU  dream  and  dream  of  the  interest  and 
•*  energy  you  would  show  if  you  were  just 
in  a  different  position. 

That  is  human  nature,  all  right;  hut  do  not 
deceive  yourself.  Every  job  has  hard  and 
disagreeable  features.  You  simply  can  not  see 
them,  looking  on  from  the  outside. 

If  you  do  not  force  yourself  to  do  thorough 
work  where  you  are  you  will  never  develop  the 
ability  to  do  thorough  work  anywhere.  A 
salesman,  like  water,  rises  to  his  true  level. 

The  real  "other  job"  for  you  is  probably  not 
with  some  other  firm,  but  a  bigger  responsibility 
with  your  present  firm.  Get  it  by  filling  the 
present  office  to  the  point  of  overflowing. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  141 

TALKS  BY  THE  OBSERVER 

The  business  of  studying  people  is  one 
of  the  most  interesting  subjects  in  the 
world.  Here  is  a  customer — a  sensitive, 
shrinking  little  woman — who  is  imme- 
diately embarrassed  or  annoyed  if  you 
watch  her  closely.  If  you  are  a  judicious 
salesman,  you  will  not  hover  over  her,  but 
will  put  her  at  ease.  The  next  customer 
who  comes  along  may  be  of  the  opposite 
type,  somebody  who  really  likes  to  have 
another  person  help  her  make  up  her 
mind;  there,  if  you  are  a  good  salesman, 
you  will,  without  appearing  to  do  so, 
lead  this  customer  along  to  a  decision. 
You  can't  deal  with  all  people  alike,  but 
you  can  always  be  alert  to  see  the  way  to 
deal  best  with  the  customer  before  you. 


It's  wonderful  what  interesting  things 
you  can  discover  in  ordinary  materials 
when  you  study  them  closely.  The  Ob- 
server was  imprest  with  this  the  other 
day  in  watching  a  saw  salesman  demon- 


SHORT    TALKS 

strata.  This  sawman  knew  more  about 
saws  than  any  man  you  ever  saw  —  could 
talk  with  the  carpenters  and  cabinet- 
makers about  all  their  pet  problems.  And 
he  sold  saws!  The  Observer  came  near 
buying  one,  altho  he  had  saws  aplenty. 

A  friend  tells  the  Observer  that  Ameri- 
can-grown raw  cotton  can  be  graded  by 
an  expert  into  thirty-three  grades,  when 
perhaps  we  ordinary  folks  could  not 
grade  it  into  more  than  three  grades  — 
poor,  medium  and  good.  The  cotton  ex- 
pert knows  cotton;  that  explains  it.  He 
can  tell  you  why  the  long-fiber  cotton  is 
superior,  and  all  such  things.  He  makes 
a  seemingly  dry  subject  interesting. 


It  is  always  so  much  more  satisfactory 
to  buy  an  umbrella,  a  trunk,  or  a  rug 
from  salespeople  who  know  umbrellas, 
trunks  and  rugs  thoroughly,  who  can  tell 
you  why  certain  things  are  made  as  they 
are  made,  and  why  the  higher-priced 
article  is  better. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING 

Do  you  look  for  books,  magazines,  and 
advertising  matter  that  make  you  better 
informed  on  the  goods  you  sell?  Do  you 
get  all  you  can  from  buyers,  heads  of 
stock,  manufacturers,  and  manufacturers' 
salesmen?  Let's  suppose  you  are  selling 
gloves.  Suppose  you  knew  every  im- 
portant thing  about  glove-leathers  and 
dyes,  fashions,  buttons,  etc.  Wouldn't 
you  sell  a  great  many  more  gloves? 
Wouldn't  your  work  be  easier  and  more 
satisfactory  all  around?  To  be  sure,  and 
it  is  just  as  sure  that  you  would  get  what 
you  were  entitled  to  in  the  way  of  in- 
creased compensation. 


A  woman,  quite  old  and  feeble,  wan- 
dered into  a  big  bank,  looking  around 
rather  helplessly.  In  an  instant,  an  as- 
sistant cashier  whose  desk  is  near  the 
door  for  just  such  work,  was  at  her  side, 
inquiring  with  marked  courtesy  what  he 
could  do  for  her.  She  wanted  informa- 
tion on  some  trivial  matter;  wasn't  look- 


144  SHORT    TALKS 

ing  for  a  place  to  bank  money.  But  she 
got  as  good  attention  as  if  she  had 
called  to  open  an  account.  A  few 
weeks  later  a  young  man  came  in  and 
opened  an  account  with  a  first  deposit  of 
one  thousand  dollars,  and  volunteered  the 
information  that  he  came  into  that  bank 
because  of  the  courteous  attention  his 
mother  —  the  old  lady  —  had  received. 


He  is  in  the  Section  where  the  Vic- 
trolas  are  sold,  and  he  has  about  the  most 
accommodating  disposition  the  Observer 
has  run  across  in  a  number  of  years. 
Nothing  is  too  much  trouble  to  show  you. 
With  patience  and  good  humor  he  helps 
you  to  find  things  that  you  can  hum  but 
can't  quite  call  by  name.  And  he  doesn't 
seem  to  be  disappointed  or  vexed  if  you 
don't  buy.  When  he  hasn't  just  the 
record  you  want,  he  tells  you  when  it  will 
be  in  and  lets  you  know  that  it  won't  be 
any  trouble  to  hold  one  out  for  you  if 
you  will  tell  him  when  you  can  come  in 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  145 

again.  The  Observer  wonders  whether 
this  accommodating  salesman  was  born 
with  all  his  good  qualities  or  whether  he 
cultivated  them  to  some  extent. 


"His  worst  enemy  was  himself."  What 
a  great  sermon  is  tied  up  in  those  five 
words.  How  often  it  is  true  that  a 
young  man  or  a  young  woman  has  a  good 
chance,  has  friends  to  help  along,  but 
through  dowdy  indifference  —  laziness, 
obstinacy,  a  loose  tongue,  neglect  to  think, 
or  some  other  equally  objectionable  trait 
—  never  rises  above  mediocre  work  and 
mediocre  pay. 

Don't  be  like  the  man  who  buried  his 
talent.  Keep  a  grip  on  yourself.  Make 
the  most  of  your  opportunities. 


The  trolley,  after  a  hard  climb,  stopt  at 
a  little  hut  labeled  "Sand  House,"  took 
on  a  fresh  supply  of  sand,  and  then  with 


146  SHORT    TALKS 

well-sanded   wheels   pushed   around   the 
hard  up-curve  considerably  easier. 

What  a  great  thing  it  would  be, 
thought  the  Observer,  if  all  of  us  would 
just  take  on  a  little  more  sand  when  we 
strike  the  hard  places,  and  then  go  on 
with  fresh  grip.  You  can  do  it.  You 
have  more  grit  in  reserve  than  you  have 
ever  called  out.  Use  your  "sand  house." 
Next  time  you  strike  the  hard  curve, 
don't  groan  or  moan,  don't  back:  sand 
the  wheels  and  turn  on  the  current. 

ARE  YOU  BUILDING? 

Don't  you  believe  in  character  develop- 
ment? 

It  is  just  as  true  as  the  sun  in  the. 
heavens  that  if  you  set  your  mind  on  the 
better  qualities  you  would  like  to  possess 
you  will  day  by  day  draw  nearer  to  your 
ideal.  That  is  the  law  of  nature  in  the 
physical  world  and  it  holds  just  as  true 
in  the  mental.  When  you  exercise  your 
arm  faithfully  the  muscle  builds  itself  up. 
Strive  to  be  patient,  cheerful,  alert, 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  147 

thorough;  and  tho  you  may  not  be  able 
to  see  great  improvement  from  day  to 
day  or  week  to  week,  the  upbuilding  is 
going  on.  Thousands  upon  thousands 
have  proved  it  to  be  so.  You  can!  Do 
a  little  self-analyzing.  Put  down  on  a 
piece  of  paper  what  you  want  to  cultivate  ; 
make  up  your  mind  that  you  will  possess 
those  qualities;  and  you  will. 

IN  LOVE  WITH  HIS  JOB 

Five  words  that  stand  for  five  thou- 
sand— "In  love  with  his  job." 

His  job  isn't  mere  work,  but  joy  and 
satisfaction. 

Hours  are  nothing.  Sunday  is  wel- 
comed as  a  day  of  rest,  but  there  are 
times  when  he  impatiently  waits  for  Mon- 
day to  come  that  he  may  get  down  early 
and  get  at  things. 

Advancement?  It  never  worries  him. 
It  comes  so  quickly  and  automatically  that 
sometimes  he  wonders  if  it  was  only  a 
year  ago  that  he  got  an  increase. 


148  SHORT    TALKS 

Others  with  apparently  the  same  ability 
and  education  do  not  seem  to  have  the 
power  of  this  lover  of  his  job.  He  radi- 
ates enthusiasm.  Customers  feel  it  and 
fall  before  it. 

No  danger  of  his  mind  getting  full  of 
morbid  thoughts  and  other  rank  stuff. 

He  has  found  his  work;  found  glowing 
physical  and  mental  health  with  it. 

Happy  man ! 

BE  PLEASANT  BUT  NOT  "THICK" 

Don't  talk  too  much  or  "get  thick"  with 
people  around  you. 

The  pleasant  "Good  morning"  and  the 
little  acts  of  consideration — these  are  not 
only  good  things  from  a  general  point  of 
view  but  are  really  good  business. 

But  chaffing,  horse-play,  and  much 
talking,  particularly  with  those  respon- 
sible to  you,  encourage  a  familiarity  that 
breeds  disrespect  and  indifference  to 
work. 

Affected  superiority  is  an  abomination, 
but  a  certain  amount  of  dignity  and  re- 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  149 

serve  is  essential  to  good  work  and  ca- 
pable leadership. 

Be  democratic,  but  keep  your  place. 


Don't  gossip  about  the  executives  of 
the  store  or  your  immediate  superiors. 
Usually  the  tales  that  are  mouthed 
around  by  those  who  haven't  anything 
better  to  occupy  their  minds  are  untrue. 
You  are  better  off  to  decline  to  listen  to 
such  gossip  or  to  repeat  it. 


To  give  half-hearted  attention  is  a 
mark  of  ill-breeding.  To  give  whole- 
hearted attention  puts  you  among  the 
well-bred,  on-to-their-jobs  people. 


A  salesman  is  known  by  the  customers 
he  keeps. 


Courtesy  attracts  courtesy.  And  even 
when  it  doesn't,  a  genuinely  courteous 
manner  will  make  the  rebuffs  of  others 
less  disturbing. 


150        SHORT  TALKS 

TALKS  BY  THE  OBSERVER 

The  Observer  doesn't  like  the  sugges- 
tion of  the  word  "bait/'  but  it  seems  to 
him  that  selling  is  something  like  fishing. 
A  good  fisherman,  you  know,  carries  bait 
of  different  kinds.  The  bait  that  will  pull 
in  a  string  of  beauties  of  one  kind  of  fish 
will  be  sniffed  at  by  another  kind. 

The  Observer  was  hunting  up  some 
collars  the  other  day.  It  was  easy  enough 
for  the  salesperson,  without  any  staring, 
to  see  that  the  customer  before  him  wore 
a  rather  conservative  style  of  collar.  But, 
having  eyes,  he  saw  not.  He  fetched  out 
an  extreme  style — the  wrong  bait — with 
the  observation  that  it  was  the  "latest 
thing."  And  then  the  Observer  took  keen 
delight  in  remarking  that  the  fact  that 
the  style  was  the  very  latest  was  the  best 
possible  reason  why  he  wouldn't  want  it. 

Take  a  quick  review  of  the  customer 
and  start  your  sale  with  what  that  tells 
you.  Be  instantly  ready  to  change  tac- 
tics as  soon  as  the  customer  gives  better 
leads. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  151 

The  Observer  went  on  to  another  store 
where  a  clothing  man  was  as  earnest  and 
careful  in  selling  a  suit  as  if  the  cus- 
tomer had  been  his  own  brother.  He 
wasn't  effusive;  didn't  weary  you  with 
his  chatter  ;  he  didn't  say  a  thing  that  you 
would  suspect  was  insincere  —  anything 
that  seemed  to  be  in  the  interests  of  the 
house  rather  than  of  the  customer.  He 
didn't  even  follow  that  rule  of  salesman- 
ship that  you  sometimes  hear  —  "Always 
agree  with  the  customer."  When  he 
could  not  honestly  agree  with  the  cus- 
tomer he  pleasantly  disagreed  and  gave 
his  reasons.  He  knew  fabrics,  he  knew 
styles,  and  he  studied  his  customers  so  as 
to  know  in  a  general  way  what  they 
wanted  without  any  waste  of  time.  The 
result  was  that  he  sold  two  suits  when 
the  Observer  had  come  in  for  only  one. 


A  uniformed  salesperson  was  observed 
deliberately  spitting  on  the  floor  of  a 
drug-store.  This,  in  an  establishment 


152  SHORT    TALKS 

where  many  goods  of  the  sanitary  kind 
are  sold — goods  designed  to  prevent  dis- 
ease, and  yet  the  salesperson  openly  and 
flagrantly  did  something  that  is  pro- 
hibited even  in  the  common  street-cars. 
How  can  we  hope  to  impress  people  with 
the  value  of  our  goods  and  service  if  we 
ourselves  do  not  practise  good  manners 
and  good  taste? 

*  * 

.If  you  ever  have  the  chance,  take  a 
meal  or  have  an  interview  with  a  well- 
bred  person  of  a  French  or  Spanish- 
speaking  country.  Perhaps  we  Ameri- 
cans can  justly  claim  to  have  more 
modern  ideas  in  many  things,  but  some 
of  the  people  of  the  old  country  can 
give  us  great  lessons  in  the  fine  art  of 
courtesy.  The  Observer  recently  had  a 
delightful  hour  with  a  gentleman  who 
had  spent  many  years  of  his  life  in 
France  and  Buenos  Aires.  He  had  that 
delicate,  gracious  manner  that  defies  de- 
scription, but  yet  makes  the  men  and 
women  who  possess  it  spread  sunshine 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  153 

and  satisfaction  wherever  they  go.  Cour- 
tesy is  an  old  subject,  but  it  is  well  worth 
thinking  about  every  week  of  your  life. 
Come,  now,  are  you  just  as  agreeable,  as 
careful  of  the  little  points  of  courtesy,  as 
eager  to  be  always  well  bred  as  you 
should  be?  Think  how  much  your  per- 
sonality would  be  improved  by  more  re- 
gard for  the  fine  polish  that  makes  the 
real  gentleman  and  the  real  gentlewoman. 


An  acquaintance  of  the  Observer  has 
recently  spent  several  months  studying  a 
large  sales  organization  in  the  effort  to 
find  why  some  people  succeed,  while 
others,  with  apparently  no  more  in  their 
favor,  so  far  as  education  and  tempera- 
ment go,  do  only  mediocre  work  or  fail. 
This  student  of  human  nature  discovered 
several  important  things,  but  most  im- 
portant of  all  he  found  that  every  suc- 
cessful salesman  had  a  powerful  motive, 
a  purpose,  a  mainspring,  that  spurred 
him  on  toward  success.  In  some  cases 


154  SHORT    TALKS 

the  motive  was  the  love  of  power.  In 
other  cases  it  was  the  love  of  money. 
Sometimes  it  was  found  that  the  success- 
ful man  was  spurred  on  to  unusual  ef- 
fort by  the  fact  that  he  had  a  wife  or  a 
family  that  he  loved  to  provide  with 
the  comforts  and  luxuries  of  life,  and 
now  and  then  the  successful  fellow  was 
some  one  who  was  hoping  after  a  while 
to  have  a  wife  to  provide  comforts  and 
luxuries  for! 

But  the  great  lesson  is  that  you  can't 
get  very  far  without  a  purpose,  without  a 
mainspring,  any  more  than  an  engine  can 
run  without  steam  in  the  boiler. 

So  get  a  motive. 

Fall  in  love,  if  you  like,  with  a  sen- 
sible girl  who  will  tell  you  that  you  have 
got  to  hustle  if  you  want  her  as  a  life- 
partner. 

If  you  don't  want  love  as  a  mainspring, 
try  pride  or  ambition.  Resolve  to  make 
something  of  yourself,  to  be  head  and 
shoulders  above  the  crowd. 

The  Observer  has  several  times  in  his 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  155 

life  seen  envy  and  humiliation  turn  into  a 
very  live  mainspring.  Somebody  else  got 
promoted,  and  the  young  man  or  young 
woman  who  had  been  drifting  along, 
taking  things  as  they  came,  got  stung 
into  activity. 

Motive  is  the  thing.     Get  it! 

THE  HARD-TO-HANDLE  CUSTOMER 

The  reasonable  customer  who  comes 
into  the  store  with  a  definite  want  in  mind 
presents  no  problem.  Anybody  can  serve 
such  a  person  acceptably. 

The  people  that  try  your  ability  are  the 
unreasonable  kind,  the  queer  ones,  the 
customers  with  grievances;  and  there's  a 
lot  of  such  folks  in  the  world.  While  the 
store  and  its  employees  are  not  expected 
to  stand  for  everything  in  the  world,  the 
right  and  proper  way  to  treat  every  guest 
who  enters  the  doors  is  to  give  dignified, 
courteous  consideration  to  the  very  limit. 

We  are  all  familiar  with  the  customer 
who  comes  in  with  a  complaint  that  she 
has  nursed  overnight,  and  who  perhaps 


156  SHORT    TALKS 

thinks  that  she  has  been  served  very 
badly  indeed.  Maybe  she  was;  maybe 
she  wasn't.  We  must  give  her  the  bene- 
fit of  the  doubt  and  listen  to  her  story 
sympathetically.  Old  hands  at  the  selling 
business  know  that  it  is  best  to  let  such 
a  person  tell  the  full  story.  That  often 
acts  as  a  sort  of  safety-valve.  Then  you 
can  get  at  the  merit  of  the  case  and  do 
whatever  can  be  done  to  adjust  the 
matter  or  at  least  to  show  the  customer 
that  the  store  regrets  that  the  transaction 
was  not  satisfactory. 

Try  not  to  get  excited.  Don't  raise 
your  voice  because  the  customer  raises 
hers.  Tho  the  customer  may  be  slightly 
or  wholly  in  the  wrong,  you  are  repre- 
senting the  store,  and  it  is  your  business 
to  play  the  part  of  a  skilful,  well-bred, 
well-controlled  salesperson. 

CLOSING  A  SALE 

As  has  already  been  said,  if  skilful 
work  has  been  done  in  securing  favor- 
able attention,  developing  interest  and 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  157 

building  up  belief  in  the  merchandise  and 
the  store,  the  final  step  of  the  sale — 
getting  action  from  the  customer  and 

closing  the  transaction should  be  a 

simple  matter.  Indeed,  if  a  salesman  has 
trouble  regularly  in  closing  his  sales,  it  is 
more  than  likely  that  his  work  in  building 
up  interest  and  belief  is  faulty. 

However,  sales  frequently  "hang  fire" 
even  when  the  preliminary  work  has  been 
carefully  done.  This  is  a  stage  of  the  sale 
that  requires  much  tact.  The  salesman 
is,  of  course,  desirous  of  adding  to  his 
total,  but  if  he  attempts  too  plainly  to 
force  a  decision,  the  store  may  lose  the 
sale.  The  customer's  immediate  satis- 
faction and  permanent  good-will  must 
never  be  overlooked. 

Some  people  find  it  difficult  to  choose, 
and  really  welcome  a  little  gentle  push 
toward  a  decision.  Sometimes  a  simple 
question  such  as,  "You  like  the  hammered 
silver  better  than  the  others,  don't  you?" 
is  enough  to  settle  the  doubt  and  to  fix 
the  choice.  Often  a  suggestion  such  as 


158  SHORT    TALKS 

this  is  effective:  "You  can  take  this  home 
and  if  you  are  not  entirely  satisfied,  it 
may  be  brought  back  and  exchanged  at 
your  convenience." 

"If  you  decide  to  take  this  one,  we  can 
easily  make  the  changes  by  Saturday  so 
that  you  can  have  the  suit  for  Sunday," 
is  the  way  a  clothing-store  salesman 
clinches  a  number  of  sales. 

"Shall  I  have  this  one  wrapt  for 
you?"  is  another  example  of  closing  sug- 
gestion. "We  are  selling  a  great  many 
of  these  and  have  no  complaints  what- 
ever," is  still  another.  There  are  scores 
that  can  be  used  effectively  if  used  judi- 
ciously. 

Some  customers  resist  any  effort  on  the 
part  of  salespeople  to  help  them  decide. 
Such  people  may  prefer  to  have  a  few 
minutes  for  final  inspection,  undisturbed 
by  the  presence  or  the  suggestions  of  the 
salesman.  Study  your  customer  and  act 
accordingly,  but  remember  that  it  is  your 
business  to  make  as  many  sales  as  can 
be  made  well. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  159 

PERSONAL   CAPITAL 

T  TE  hasn't  the  reputation  of  being  stingy. 
*  •*  In  fact,  he  has  the  reputation  of  taking 
care  of  his  family  as  well  as  most  men  do,  but 
he  said  to  me  the  other  day  that  he  was  thinking 
of  spending  about  a  year  in  preparing  himself 
for  a  new  line  of  work  that  would  be  more  con- 
genial and  profitable,  and  he  added,  with  a  little 
pardonable  pride,  "/  have  laid  by  enough 
money  so  that  I  can  afford  to  go  a  year  without 
making  a  cent." 

Thinfe  what  an  advantage  that  young  man 
has!  He  can  afford  to  tal?e  advantage  of  op- 
portunities that  would  be  denied  to  nine  out  of 
ten  young  men  because  of  the  fact  that  they  are 
living  well  up  to  the  month's  wages. 

This  young  man  has  given  us  a  fine  example 
in  this  day  of  high  cost  of  living. 

Do  you  thinl?  he  missed  much  when  he  elimi- 
nated the  extravagances  and  cheap  amusements 
that  most  young  men  indulge  in? 


160  SHORT    TALKS 


"BULGE   OVER" 

<^>><z> 

'  r  I  ^HE  best  Way  to  get  a  better  situation," 

*      says  the  New  York  Times,  "is  to  fill 

your    present    job    so    full    that    you    bulge 


over" 


These  twenty  words  say  about  all  that  need 
be  said  about  better  jobs  —  and  better  salaries. 

The  world  has  plenty  of  people  who  rattle 
around  loosely  and  noisily  in  their  jobs,  but 
not  half  enough  of  the  earnest,  dependable 
"bulge-over"  brand. 

If  present  employers  dont  see  the  bulge, 
others  will.  So  dont  worry  about  that. 

Just  be  SURE  that  you  are  REALLY 
BULGING. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  161 

TALKS  BY  THE  OBSERVER 

"Can't  do  it — not  delivering  out  there 
to-day" — and  plunk  went  the  telephone  as 
he  slammed  it  back  on  the  hook.  His 
voice  was  raspy  and  impatient,  too,  as  if 
he  were  thinking  to  himself:  "Why  do 
these  confounded  people  keep  bothering 
us  on  a  busy  day  like  this  just  before  a 
holiday/' 

The  customer  felt  like  saying,  "Well, 
you  needn't  be  such  a  grouch  about  it." 
But  the  telephone  shut  off  too  quickly; 
so  she  just  thought  it. 

Naturally,  there  are  times  when  un- 
usual requests  for  delivery  can  not  be 
granted,  but  never  forget  that,  even  when 
you  can  not  say  "yes>"  there  is  oppor- 
tunity to  cultivate  good-will  for  the  store. 
Pertness  and  unnecessary  abruptness  are 
poor  business-getters. 

"I  am  very  sorry,  Mrs.  Jones,"  said  a 
grocer  on  such  an  occasion,  "but  delivery 
to-morrow  morning  is  the  very  best  I  can 
do  on  that.  Would  that  be  all  right?" 
His  tone  showed  genuine  regret,  and,  tho 


162  SHORT    TALKS 

"to-morrow  morning"  would  not  do,  he 
left  with  the  customer  an  impression  of 
sincere,  never-failing  desire  to  serve  — 
which  is  the  sort  of  impression  every 
salesman  should  leave. 

"Will  you  excuse  me  just  a  moment," 
said  a  bright-faced,  clear-toned  little 
saleswoman  to  the  customer,  and  when 
she  returned,  she  added,  "I  am  sorry  I 
had  to  leave  you,  but  it  was  unavoidable." 

It  was  just  a  little  thing  to  do,  but  it 
made  a  strong  impression  on  the  cus- 
tomer and  on  the  Observer.  It  is  always 
rude  to  leave  a  customer  unceremoniously. 
This  kind  of  courtesy  is  unfortunately 
rare,  but  it  turns  selling  into  something 
more  than  a  cold-blooded  exchange  of 
merchandise  for  money.  Furthermore,  it 
will  bring  that  young  woman  increased 
satisfaction  in  her  work  as  well  as  in- 
creased salary. 


The   Observer   was   trying  to   get   a 
ready-made  coat,  but  he  was  having  a 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  163 

hard  time  to  find  a  perfect  fit.  The  only 
coat  that  he  liked  was  too  full  in  the 
front. 

"Let's  send  for  our  head  tailor,"  sug- 
gested the  salesman,  "and  see  what  he 
says  about  it." 

The  Observer  thought  to  himself, 
"Here's  where  something  is  going  to  be 
'put  over  on  me!'  The  tailor  will  look 
at  the  coat  and  tell  me  impressively  that 
it  can  be  made  perfect." 

But  it  did  not  happen  that  way. 

"There  isn't  a  thing  we  can  do  to  that 
coat,"  said  the  tailor.  "The  goods  are 
in  the  front  and  we  can't  put  them  in  the 
back.  Besides,  he  has  to  have  a  coat  that 
is  big  in  the  back.  You  can't  fit  him  in 
that  model,  Sam.  Why  not  try  a  model 
D?" 

The  salesman  had  done  so  already,  and 
finally  he  admitted  regretfully  that  he  had 
not  a  coat  in  the  place  of  the  desired 
material  that  would  give  the  Observer  a 
correct  fit. 

Some  people  would  call  that  poor  sales- 


164  SHORT    TALKS 

manship,  but  it  was  not.  The  Observer 
thought  the  salesman  ought  to  know  that 
his  sincerity  was  appreciated,  so  he  said: 
"You  may  not  realize  it,  but  you  did 
the  best  bit  of  selling  work  to-day  that  you 
have  done  in  a  long  time,  even  if  I  am 
not  carrying  away  one  of  your  coats. 
This  is  my  first  visit  to  your  store.  May- 
be you  and  your  tailor  could  have  'put 
something  over  on  me' — sold  me  a  coat 
that  was  a  poor  fit — but  I  never  would 
have  put  my  foot  in  your  store  again.  I 
am  here  in  this  city  frequently,  and  I 
know  now  that  I  can  come  in  for  an 
overcoat  or  anything  else  I  want  and  be 
treated  squarely." 

The  man  or  woman  who  learns  to  sell 
well,  week  in  and  week  out,  will  never 
have  to  hunt  long  for  employment. 


An  opportunity  is  created  when  a  cus- 
tomer enters  the  door.  Make  the  most  of 
it. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  165 

STICK! 


/F  the  applicant  for  a  position  can  say  truthfully, 
"/  was  with  my  last  employers  fve  years"  he 

scores  a  strong  point  in  his  favor.  It  means  that 
he  has  stability  —  which  is  often  just  as  important 
as  ability. 

We  all  have  our  grievances;  we  have  to  deal  with 
eccentric  bosses  maybe,  and  conditions  are  not  by  any 
means  what  we  should  like  them  to  be.  But  a  man 
is  not  much  of  a  man  if  he  can  not  endure  and  over- 
come the  hard  things  that  fall  to  his  lot  in  nearly  every 
position. 

What  of  a  new  position?  It  may  not  be  any  better, 
and  it  may  be  a  great  deal  worse. 

You  t^now  your  present  employer's  hobbies,  and  you 
can  get  along  with  him;  the  other  hard  things  of  the 
position  no  longer  terrorize  you. 

You  may  be  jumping  out  of  the  frying-pan  into  the 
fire  if  you  make  a  change  solely  on  account  of  a  few 
difficult  or  disagreeable  conditions. 

Of  course,  changes  are  sometimes  necessary,  but  in 
most  cases  if  the  employee  would  simply  grit  his  teeth 
and  hold  on,  bending  his  mind  and  energies  to  seeing 
what  could  be  accomplished  in  the  Work  be  is  doing, 
instead  of  thinking  what  he  could  do  in  some  other 
job,  he  would  in  the  end  be  better  off. 


166        SHORT  TALKS 

DREAMS  AND  DREAMERS 

Let  them  call  you  a  dreamer,  if  they 
will,  but  keep  sacred  in  your  heart  the 
vision  of  the  broader,  nobler,  more  use- 
ful, more  happy  person  you  would  like 
to  be. 

Out  of  such  dream-stuff  comes  slowly 
but  surely  the  bigger  self. 

Every  great  improvement,  every  for- 
ward step,  was  once  some  one's  idea — 
some  one's  dream. 

A  LESSON  FROM  THE  WAR 

There  is  a  good  lesson  in  the  press 
dispatches  about  the  exploits  of  the 
German  cruiser  Emden. 

"Wireless  messages  were  flying  around 
her"  says  the  Associated  Press*,  "but  she 
didn't  talk — couldn't  afford  to.  She 
worked." 

Talking  is  a  fine  art  in  its  place  but 
most  people  over-practise  it.  We  are  al- 
ways talking,  talking,  talking  about  what 
we  are  going  to  do.  Doing,  not  talking, 
is  what  counts. 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  167 

Says  Nathaniel  Fowler,  Jr.:  "A  good 
salesman  either  talks  much  and  well  or 
less  and  very  well! " 

DON'T  SAY— 

Don't  say,  "There  isn't  no  use."  Say, 
"There  isn't  any  use,"  or  "There  is  no 
use."  Watch  for  these  double  negatives; 
they  form  a  large  percentage  of  our  slips 
of  speech. 

Don't  say,  "more  handsomer."  Say, 
"more  handsome"  or  just  "handsome." 

Don't  say,  "This  will  wear  good."  Say, 
"wear  well." 

Don't  say,  "your  man,"  in  referring  to 
a  customer's  husband.  Call  a  husband  a 
husband.  Likewise,  it  is  in  better  taste 
to  refer  to  a  man's  wife  as  his  wife,  or  as 
"Mrs.  Blank,"  rather  than  as  "the  Mrs.," 
or  "the  missus." 

A  CASE  OF  WAIT 

"Are  you  waited  on?"  asked  Gertrude, 
coming  forward  to  the  customer  after  she 
had  been  telling  Margaret  exactly  what 
she  said  to  George  the  evening  before. 


168  SHORT    TALKS 

"No,"  said  the  mean  customer,  who  felt 
indignant  over  having  to  wait  minutes 
while  a  private  conversation  was  being 
completed,  "I  am  just  waiting  to  be  wait- 
ed on." 

S-E-R-V-I-C-E 

Just  seven  letters  in  it,  but  it  is  one 
of  the  biggest  words  in  the  English  lan- 
guage. 

For  service  in  its  full  sense  means 
service  to  the  customer,  service  to  the 
store,  and  service  to  yourself. 

You  accomplish  the  three  things  at 
once  when  you  constantly  study  your 
work  and  strive  to  do  it  in  the  best  pos- 
sible way. 

A  PROGRESSIVE  CREED 

I  will  not  allow  worry,  or  idle  or  vi- 
cious thoughts  to  poison  my  mind  and 
stunt  my  creative  powers.  I  will  keep 
clear  of  such  mental  weeds  by  storing 
my  mind  with  better  thoughts. 

I  recognize  that  genius   is  only  con- 


ON    RETAIL    SELLING  169 

centration;  therefore,  I  will  concentrate 
on  whatever  I  do. 

When  I  have  to  make  a  decision,  I  will 
open  my  mind  freely  to  all  the  facts. 
When  these  have  been  reviewed  and  my 
conclusion  reached,  I  will  close  my  mind 
to  further  consideration  of  the  question 
unless  new  facts  are  brought  to  light. 
For  doubt  and  indecision  are  more  harm- 
ful than  occasional  mistakes. 

I  will  accept  the  inevitable  with  good 
grace  and  not  waste  any  precious  energy 
in  bitter  reflection. 

I  will  maintain  my  sense  of  proportion 
— endeavor  to  give  all  things  their  true 
weight,  no  more,  no  less. 

I  will  be  as  clean  and  careful  in  my 
speech  as  in  my  dress,  for  I  realize  that 
slovenliness  in  either  is  a  great  bar  to 
appreciation  and  advancement. 

I  will  strive  to  be  unselfish  in  my 
thinking,  my  reading,  my  listening,  my 
talking — to  be  more  broadly  informed 
and  thereby  able  to  discuss  with  real  in- 
terest the  things  that  appeal  to  others. 


170  SHORT    TALKS 

I  know  that  I  have  the  God-given 
power  to  rule  myself,  to  improve  my 
character.  Therefore  I  intend,  by  the 
exercise  of  my  WILL,  to  draw  nearer,  day 
by  day,  week  by  week,  month  by  month, 
to  the  ideal  of  the  high-minded,  gracious, 
efficient,  useful,  and  happy  person  that  I 
keep  always  in  my  mind. 


Think  how  much  extra  business  the 
store  could  get  if  everybody  on  the  pay- 
roll would  boost  at  every  opportunity. 

The  store  can  not  have  any  better  repu- 
tation than  that  which  its  salespeople  give 
it. 


The  recollection  of  a  good  salesman 
remains  long  after  the  purchase  is  for- 
gotten. 


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A   NEW  and  Entirely  Up- to- Date 
DICTIONARY 


The  Funk  &  Wagnalls 

DESK  STANDARD 
DICTIONARY 

This  entirely  new  work,  which  is  the 
most  recent  of  the  abridgments  from  the 
New  Standard  Dictionary,  describes  and 
explains  80,000  words,  phrases,  and  topics 
of  interest. 

It  is  a  special  handy-sized  dictionary  designed 
particularly  for  desk  use  in  the  office,  the  college,  the 
study,  and  for  handy  reference  on  the  library  table. 

Its  vocabulary  is  sufficiently  inclusive  to  cover 
all  words  that  may  be  met  with  in  study  or  in  reading. 

Every  term  has  its  own  alphabetical  place  in  the 
main  vocabulary — no  confusing  appendix. 

It  contains  more  than  6,000  discriminating  articles 
and  groups  of  Synonyms,  occupying  11,700  lines — 
2,000  more  than  any  other  dictionary  of  the  same 
size.  There  are  1,200  Pictorial  Illustrations. 

"  Of  uncommon  usefulness  and  convenience." 

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How  to  Deal  With  Human 
Nature  in  Business 

A  new  and  thorough-going  book  of 
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Principles  of  Appeal,  Proportion  and 
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spondence, Various  Styles  in  Business 
Letter-Writing,  System  in  Mail  Order 
Correspondence,  A  Study  of  the  Grocery 
Business,  Collection  by  Mail,  etc.  Should 
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proposes  to  go  into  it. 

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as  will  help  to  solve  them." 

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THE  ART  OF  SPEAKING 
AND  WRITING  THE 
ENGLISH  LANGUAGE 

Six  Volumes  by  SHERWIN  CODY 

With  the  mighty  advances  being  made  in  every 
branch  of  business  and  professional  life  has  come  a 
demand  for  a  higher  standard  of  intelligence — of 
proficiency.  Illiteracy  or  slipshod  methods  of 
speech  and  correspondence  are  now  looked  upon 
with  intolerance.  The  man  who  can  express  him- 
aeif  with  force  and  clearness  is  the  man  in  demand 
everywhere. 

Aside  from  their  great  value  in  widening  a  man's 
mental  perspective — putting  him  in  a  position  to 
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these  six  volumes  have  an  intrinsic  value  far  beyond 
their  cost.  They  have  put  thousands  of  men  and 
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the  most  practical,  the  best,  for  Business  Managers, 
Correspondents,  Advertisement  Writers,  Stenogra- 
phers, Story  Writers,  Authors,  Public  Speakers, 
and  others. 

Vol.      I.  Won!  Study.  Vol.  IV.  Constructive  Rhetoric. 

Vol.    II.  Dictionary  ofErrors.  Vol.    V.  Grammar. 
Vol.  III.  Composition.  Vol.  VI.  How    to    Read   and 

What  to  Read. 

ibmOy  ClotA,  in  a  box.     Price,  carriage  prepaid^  $4.50 
{Not  sold  separately). 

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An  Indispensable  Volume   for  those  who  would  write  and 

"=-•—•••—•———•—•'••———    speak  pure  English. 


A  Desk-Book  of 
Errors  in  English 

By  FRANK  H.  VIZETELLY,  Litt.D.,  LL.D. 

Author  of  "The  Preparation  of  Manuscript  for  the  Printer,'* 
Managing  Editor  of  the  "New  Standard  Dictionary,"  etc. 

This  compact  volume  deals  with  the  hundred 
and  one  questions  that  arise  in  daily  speech  and  cor- 
respondence, and  which  are  not  usually  treated  in  the 
dictionary  in  the  same  manner  as  in  this  handy  and 
time-saving  book. 

"So  many  common  errors  of  speech  are  dinned  in  our  ears 
daily  that  we  grow  careless  and  adopt  them  as  correct.  ...  It 
should  be  on  the  table  of  everyone  who  wishes  to  speak  pure 
English." — The  Item,  Philadelphia. 

"  It  is  a  book  that  should  be  on  every  writer's  desk.  If 
studied  in  season  and  out  of  season  it  will  correct  numerous 
inelegancies  and  vulgarities  of  speech." — Tht  Union ,  Spring- 
field, Mass. 

"  The  book  is  admirably  arranged  to  facilitate  search  for  a 
decision  on  a  moot  point  or  a  doubtful  usage,  and  is  invaluable 
for  the  writer  who  lacks  the  leisure  for  extended  and  thoughtful 
research." — Star,  Washington,  D.  C. 

I2m0)  Cloth)  242  fagti.     jrj  cents. 

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THIRTY  EDITIONS  SINCE  PUBLICATION 


THE  EDUCATION 
OF  THE  WILL 

By  JULES  PAYOT,  Litt.D.,  Ph.D. 

Translated  from  tht  French  by   Smith  Ely  Jelliffe,  M.D.,  Pr*fess»r 
Clinical  Psychiatry,  Ftrdham  University,  New  Y»rk 

This  is  a  scientific  yet  popular  work  giving  valuable 
suggestions  and  exercises  for  a  judicious  training  of  the 
will.  In  the  fifteen  years  since  it  first  came  out  in 
French,  it  has  passed  through  thirty  editions.  Trans- 
lations have  been  made  into  many  languages.  An 
American  edition  has  now  for  the  first  time  been  un- 
dertaken. The  work  is  both  theoretical  and  prac- 
tical, and  promises  to  have  a  wide  number  of  read- 
ers in  the  medical  profession,  and  to  prove  of  vital 
interest  to  everyone  interested  in  psychology  and 
mental  therapeutics. 

THE  NEUr  YORK  EVENING  SUN  thinks; 

44  His  treatise  is  the  most  thoughtful,  the  most  systematic,  and,  if 
we  may  so  express  it,  the  most  business-like  we  know  of." 

THE  BROOKLYN  TlMESsnys: 

44  It  must  be  declared  in  uncompromising  terms  that  this  is  a  valu- 
able, perhaps  a  great  book.  .  .  .  In  this  haphazard,  nervous  age  such 
a  book  as  this  is  a  tonic.  It  preaches  the  gospel  America  needs." 

THE  PHILADELPHIA  NORTH  AMERICA  N  declares: 

44  It  is  a  prescription  for  the  atttainment  of  self-mastery  which  is 
procurable  in  the  4  drug-store  '  of  most  any  mind,  and  of  which  men  in 
general  stand  in  immediate  need  at  the  present  moment." 

CAUTION—  Be  sure  that  it  is  PATOTS  boot  that  you 
buy  as  there  is  antther  botk  with  the  same  title,  but  which 
has  n»  relatitn  tt  this. 


.  12mo,  Cloth,  450  pages.    fl.SO;  post-paid. 

FUNK  W  WAGNALLS  COMPANY,  Publishers 
NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 


A  Working  Grammar  of 
the  English  Language 

By  JAMES  C.  FERNALD,  L.H.D. 

The  business  man,  stenographer,  clerk,  lawyer,  physi- 
cian, clergyman,  teacher — every  one  who  would  refresh 
and  enrich  his  knowledge  of  English — will  find  in  this  book 
a  clear  and  lucid  explanation  of  the  principles  of  English 
grammar.  All  that  makes  the  study  of  grammar  a  mys- 
tery is  eliminated,  and  the  whole  book  is  constructed  so 
as  to  enable  any  intelligent  person  to  find  his  own  way,  by 
its  teachings,  to  a  correct  working  knowledge  of  English. 

"  A  work  of  great  merit.  It  is  simple,  comprehensive,  and  prac- 
tical.— Theodore  W.  Hunt,  Professor  of  English,  Princeton  Univ. 

Cloth,  333  Pages.     $1.50,  net;  post-paid,  $1.64 


English  Synonyms, 
Antonyms,  and  Prepositions 

NEW  AND  ENLARGED  EDITION 

Companion  volume  to  the  author's  book,  "Connectives  of 
English  Speech" 

By  JAMES  C.  FERNALD,  L.H.D. 

Over  8, 1 00  classified  synonyms  with  their  various  shades 
of  meaning  carefully  discriminated,  this  being  an  exclusive 
feature  of  this  work.  Nearly  4,000  classified  antonyms. 
Correct  use  of  prepositions  shown  by  illustrative  examples. 
Hints  and  helps  on  the  accurate  use  of  words,  revealing 
surprizing  possibilities  of  fulness,  freedom,  and  variety  of 
utterance. 

"  This  book  will  do  more  to  secure  rhetorical  perspicuity,  pro- 
priety, and  precision  of  expression  than  any  other  text-book  of  higher 
English  yet  produced."— President  Cochran.  Brooklyn  Polytech- 
nic Institute. 

12mo,  Cloth.  724  Pages.    $1.50,  net;  post-paid,  $1.64 

FUNK  &  WAGNALLS   COMPANY,  Publishers 
NEW  YORK  and  LONDON 


HOW  TO 
SPEAK   IN   PUBLIC 

A  Most  Suggestive  and  Practical  Self-Instructor 

By  GRENVILLE  KLEISER 

Author  of  "  Power  and  Personality  in  Speaking,"  etc. 

This  new  book  is  a  complete  elocutionary  man- 
uel  comprizing  numerous  exercises  for  developing 
the  speaking  voice,  deep  breathing,  pronunciation, 
vocal  expression,  and  gesture ;  also  selections  for 
practise  from  masterpieces  of  ancient  and  modern 
eloquence.  It  is  intended  for  students,  teachers, 
business  men,  lawyers,  clergymen,  politicians,  clubs, 
debating  societies,  and,  in  fact,  every  one  interested 
in  the  art  of  public  speaking. 

OUTLINE   OF   CONTENTS 


Mechanics  of  Elocution 
Mental  Aspects 
Public  Speaking 
Selections  for  Practise 


Previous  Preparation 
Physical  Preparation 
Mental  Preparation 
Moral  Preparation 


Preparation  of  Speech 

"  Many  useful  suggestions  in  it." — Hon.  Joseph  H.  Clioate, 
New  York. 

"  It  is  admirable  and  practical  instruction  in  the  technic  of 
speaking,  and  I  congratulate  you  upon  your  thorough  work." — 
Hon.  Albert  J.  Beveridge. 

"  The  work  has  been  very  carefully  and  well  compiled  from 
a  large  number  of  our  best  works  on  the  subject  of  elocution. 
It  contains  many  admirable  suggestions  for  those  who  are  inter- 
ested in  becoming  better  speakers.  As  a  general  text  for  use 
in  teaching  public  speaking,  it  may  be  used  with  great  success-" 
—John  W.  Wetzel,  Instructor  in  Public  Speaking,  Yale  Uni- 
versity, New  Haven,  Conn. 

12mo,  Cloth.    $1.25,  Nut;  Post-paid,  $1.40 

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SUCCESSFUL 
SELLING 

By  E.  LEICHTER 

A  practical  treatise  which  covers  the 
various  essentials  of  selling  efficiency  in 
an  interesting,  inspiring,  and  yet  common- 
sense  manner.  The  every-day,  practical 
salesman,  as  well  as  the  "greenest"  novice, 
will  enjoy  and  profit  by  this  sensible  book. 
Out  of  years  of  experience  the  author 
analyzes  and  explains  every  phase  of  sell- 
ing. His  chapter  headings  are:  The 
Modern  Aspect  of  Selling;  Requisite 
Qualities ;  The  Approach ;  The  Presen- 
tation; The  Closing;  Negations;  The 
Larger  Sale ;  The  Story  of  a  Career. 


Leslie's  Weekly  says  it  is  "a  small  but  valuable 
book  filled  with  the  meat  of  practical  common-sense 
hints  in  the  art  of  selling." 

Price,  50  cents,  net;  by  mail,  54  cents 

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TWO  H  *VE  BOG 

Retu"  A  borrowed. 

AST  DATE 
below. 


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YB  05831 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


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